A BAR TO PROGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1762, 29 May 1913, Page 4

A BAR TO PROGRESS.

Tub President of the Farmers' Union, Mr. J. G. Wilson, as usual in his opening address at the Annual Provincial Conference, touclicd on a variety of important matters in a manner which must attract attention and afford food for thought. Amongst the subjects of. pressing importance referred to by Mn. Wilson, was the opening up of Native lands for settlement, and in this connection he was merely voicing the opinion of practically the whole community when lie made protest against the manner in which settlement and progress were bci;ig retarded by the existing state of things. When approached on tho question later in the day, the Minister for Native Affairs raised the old difficulties to a more rapid opening up of these lands, and promised legislation which would restrict the opportunities of the speculator and afford Rrcater facili-

ties to tho Government to purchase Native lands, and, through the fiovonimeitt, the bona jidc settler. Tliis is very well, ho far as it robs, hut the i>til)lic are getting a little tired of the constant harping of Native Ministers on the necessity for protecting the interests of the Natives, which has been made so convenient a shelter for a policy of taihoa. We have had it dinned into our ears for so many years by Sir Jaiies Caruou, and Mr. Noata, and now the same old cry comes tripping readily from the lips of the new Native Minister, and sets one wondering whether the atmosphere of the Native Department does not exercise some hypnotic effect on Ministers who take over the portfolio of Native Affairs. No one wishes to do the Natives any injustice, but should not the interests of the country rcceive some consideration as we'll as the interests of the Natives? Everyone who has given any attention to the question at all, knows that the Native owners are iu many parts of the country not only a bar to settlement, but that they are reaping a rich harvest out of the energy, enterprise, and expenditure of the white settler and the State. The policy of the country is to break up large holdings which are already under cultivation (and which pay rates and taxes) in order to secure closer settlement and more intense cultivation; and yet the Minister shies at the thought of exercising the same powers in connection with lands which are not only idle, but which return practically no rates or taxes. These idle and untaxed lands in most cases are each year being increased in value through no effort on the part of the owners, and tho Natives arc "reaping, and will continue to reap, the harvest of the white settlers" enterprise. It is to the credit of the Natives that in a great many, if not the majority of cases, they are anxious to secure tho power to deal with their lands. Probably it is correct to say that in many instances they should not he entrusted with tho full power desired—that it is the duty of the State to see that they shall not deplete themselves of the whole of their lands. But as Mr. Wilson pointed out; it should notbe a difficult task of statesmanship to provide safeguards in the interests of the Natives, while at the same time securing that the interests of the Dominion —which demand that the land shall not bo permitted to lie idle —shall also receive consideration. Tho time has arrived when this Native land question must bo faced whole-heartedly, and with a* determination to secure' that the idle lands shall be brought into cultivation either by the Natives themselves or by settlers who are anxious to found homes for themselves and develop the latent wealth locked up in the great stretches of country barred to settlement by the tortuosities of the Native land laws, 111 our opinion the Massey Government would be well advised if it made up its mind in earnest to concentrate much greater attention on the Native land question than it has received for many years past. To do this it should free the Minister for Native Affairs from all other responsibilities, and thus enable him to give his whole energies to- this vitally-important matter. ' '