EXPOSURE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1301, 2 December 1911, Page 7

EXPOSURE.

MORE LIGHT ON MOKAU. THE ALLEGED TRANSFER OF CROWN LANDS. REPLY TO Sni JOSEPH WARD. (Br TelccraDh.— Special Correspondent.! New Plymouth, December 1. Dealing with tho Prirao Minister's reply to Mr. Okey on,tho Mokau transaction, the "Taranaki Herald" says:—This particular part of the Mokau transaction is 8. very gross iustanw o£ political jobbery, and tho Ministry which has permitted it iti no longer worthy of the confidence of the country. On page 228 of the report of the Native Affairs Committee is a letter to the chairman from the UnderSecretary of Lands (Mr. Kensington!, setting iorth that tho dato of the original Eurvey of the block was November, 1879, arid that of tho subdivisional survey, 1891. Also that a lien was allowed by tho Native Land Court on March 21, 1898. The amount of the lien and interest is shown on page 22G as «CltG'J Bs. 3d. On page 213 is.printed a letter from the Under-Secro tary to the Minister for Lands (tho Hon. K. M'Nab), dated July 10, 1907, in which Mr. Kensmgton reported that at a fitting of the Native Land Court at Otorohanga, hefd before Judge Sim, on September 19, 1906, the .following areas were allocated to tho Crown in liquidation ot survey liens:—Section 1, Block I 0, 9J acres 2 roods 26 perches; Section 1, Block 1 D, 12 acres 20 perches; Section 1, Block 1 E, 26 acres 1 rood 15 perches; Section 1, Block 1 F, 2110 acres; Section 1, Block 1 G, 267 acres 3 roods 1 perch; Section 1, Block 1 J, 667 acres 8 perches; and bee-' tion 1, Block 1 H, 1675 acres 3 roods 20 perches, totalling 5152 acres 3 roods, 25 porches. On March 23,1910, Mr. Kensington in a letter (page 221) to tho Minister for Lands (Sir J. G. Ward) stated that 5341 acres 3 roods 25 poles of the block had been awarded to tho Crown (less i acres for Native burial ground), in satisfaction of survey liens, etc., leaving 50,495 acres 15 poles as the net area to bo taken into consideration in valuing tho land, and ho advised that the Crown might give ,£35,000 for it. Incidentally, it may bo explained that the difference between the 6341 acres mcntionod by, Mr. Kensington and tho 5021 acres referred to by Mr. Okey is accounted for by the fact that a portion is outside tho area acquired by Mr. Herrman Lewis. Mr. Kensington's report and letter plainly establish that the 6021 acres had been awarded to the Crown in. satisfaction of tho survey lien, and that thereafter these sections were regarded as Crown lands, and quite apart from the balance of the block which it was proposed to acquire by purchase from tho Natives on August 24, 1911 (page 225). Mr. W.- H. Skinner furnished, i)y request of the Under-Sccrotary, somo notes on the block,' and referring to a valuation by tho Crown Lands Ranger, said this sum excludes valuation over thoso parte of the block cut off by the Native Land Court to satisfy tho Crown survey lions, but which it has since been decided to hand over to the syndicate, on the understanding that they pay surrey costs in cash. On page 227 is a letter to the Under-Secretary from A. C. -Turnbull, for the chief accountant, dated September 0, 1911, stating that "Messrs. Findlay, Dalziell and Co. deposited the full amount, viz., 8s Sd. on August 16 last, nnd this has been paid into tho Iteceiver-Genoral's deposit account pending fiual decision in tho matter." This is tho last referenec to the particular matter in the report, but March of the lnnd_ transfer titles reveals the fact that on November 20, last Monday week, survey lien was'cancelled, and the title freed .from tho encumbrance. A littlo farther light is thrown on the transaction by Sir Joseph Ward, who Bays that tho Native Land Court reconsidered tho matter at Te luiiti on October 18, 19U, when Judge Holland cancelled the order, in question (Section 121 of the Native Land Act, . 1909), and, that Ufifr.olfcct'of thia cancellatioi.' of thu order was that tho area'of land in tho block to' 1 be' awarded in satisfaction of survey liens was thereupon freed from tho Crown's encumbrance, and diverted to tho Native owners, who could then deal with it, 'as thoy had power'. IV# haVa clearly proved that up to March, 1910, tho Undersecretary regarded these 5021 acres as belonging to thp Crown. On the plan attached to tho committee's report, printed and published in November, 1911, the sections aro plainly marked as Crown lands: Mr. Skinner refers in August last to its laving been decided to hand them over "to the syndicate, if not back to tho Natives." Be it noted, Messrs. Findlay, Dalziell and Co.'s cheque was received on August 16, and it was not until October IS, after the whole transaction had been practically completed, that tho order awarding these lands to the Crown was cancelled by Judge Holland, thus restoring land to the Natives after it had been sold to the syndicate. Wo repeat emphatically, that tho Government sold tho Crown lands privately to Messrs. I'indlay, Dalziell and Co.'s clients for less than a fifth of their value. Subsequently, in order to put tho best face possible on an illegal transaction, the award of the Nativo Land Court was cancelled, but that does not exonerate the Government, whoso notion is totally indefensible."