NATIVE LANDOWNERS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2381, 10 February 1915, Page 7

NATIVE LANDOWNERS

SPECIAL PROTECTION IS IT OVERDONE BY TBE COURT? A PAHEHA'S OPINION . The law of New Zealand as It stands Sirectt the Native Land Court to See "that no Maori shall,, by selling Lis land, .make MmSelf a pauper. Sflitia Judge S> of tlib Natiyd. Land Cdbrt haVo interpreted this to mean that however Wealthy a Native miiy bo, lie shall not be : allowed- to divert huilself of ®ven a part of- his land if the Court ohould doom it unwise oil the part of the Nativ6 .t6 sell., Recently at a sit* ting of a .Native.Land Court, Judge Gilreddefj in deciding a ease, said: "The law gives th£ board power to refusb confirmation of any .transaction of i, Native in our opinion opposed to the interests of the Native/ He might have twenty.thousand pounds' tvorth 6f land, but if- his fcast careei" indicated extravagant tendencies, the 'boaid will not assist him in his dissipation. This'sale is not confirmed by the board.'! Intention of the Law. This point of view was challenged by 'Mr. Oswald Beere in an interview with i DOMINION reporter yesterday. "There is'"another side of the case,"_BAid Mr. Beere. "It is quite right and in accordance: with the law that the Native should be protected by the Court agaihSt fraud, and that no .Native should- be allowed to divest himself of all his lands and become a. pauper, but when the. law was amended in 1909- all restrictions. on the alienation of Native land were removed.' Under certain conditions Native laiid wis to be Bold as freely as European land. Seotion 207 of the Act pt-ovideci:—

"All prohibitions or restrictions on the alienation of land by a Native,'or on the alienation of Native land, which before the\c6mmeflCe? of this Ait have been imposed by any Crown grant, certificate of title, or by any Act. are hereby removed,' and shall, with inspect to any alienation made after the 66ffl' mencement of this ; Act be of no forfie or effect. Subject to tho provisions of this Act a Native may alienate or dispose of ally land or ■. any interest therein in the same manner as a_ European, and Native land or any interest therein may be alienated or disposed of is the Same 1 manner as if it was Europeah land;" . The Act also i directs that the/Court ought to be satisfied about certain conditions which should be precedent to the confirinatioa of any transfer of Native land. Section : 230 ; sets out the conditions of confirmation: No alienation shall Be confirmed unless the board or Court is first satisfied a& to the following matters. (And among the foliawing .matters are these stipulations) I— That tho ■alienation is mot contrary , to Equity' or good faith) or to the interests Of the Natives alienating. • That no Native will by reason of the alienation, become landless within the meaning of this Act. That the consideration (if any) for the alienation ,is adeguate:

The Test of Wisdom. , "Evidently the object of the Legislar tare was to permit .the Native to sell his land provided the transaction was a fair one, provided the purchaser did not .own more than, the legally permitted quantity, of land, provided the Native' was' getting a full price for his land, and provided- the Native Was' 6till retaining for himself a sufficient area to support him. 'That seems to-be the common-sense reading of the Act, but Judge Gilfedder has,-adopted a practice which, is much more stringent.- He will not confirm any alienation unless he is personally of opinion that it is a good thing for the Native 'to sell the particular land in question. This practically means that he, need Hot confirm . any.'sale. Looking at'the question solely i from the Native's Xpoint of view, his reasoning apparently is somewhat on these lines: "If the-Native sells the land and gets the money he will probably spend it, and therefore it is. better that he should not 6e11.'. 1 say this after having had the experience of. taking several cases before the board. One of those cases was that of & Native woman, well to do, owning property worth more than £4000, who Wished to sell a .piece of land at Government valuation for the purpose of buying another piece of land where she was residing, and the board, without making any inquiry into her.motives for selling, 6imply refused to allow the sale. In another case, in which the board did confirm a sale, the board required the whole, of the purchase money to be lodged with the board, refusing'even to allow the Native to pay her debts, among which were certain, debts she had contracted through l illness to a-doctor and nurses. "I may say that considerable exception 13 taken' by the legal profession to Judge Gilfedder's interpretation, of the law, because the question which the jEourt tries to determine- is no longer ;>ne of whether the deal is a fair deal So the Native, but whether it is wise, in opinion of the Court for the Native to sell the land. Usually Judge Gilfedder considers that it is not wise for the Native to sell, but his test, if applied to proposed sales of European lands, -would probably stop nearly all sales of land. impeding Settlement. "!Ebe effect, of such an interpretation of the law. must be to shut up all Native land, and to allow it to continue to lie waste. But the intention of the Act was to remove the abuses existing under the old law, which blocked the progress of European settlement. The ■Natives do not improve their land, but lot it get overgrown with fern, and let it get into 'a disgraceful state generally. 'Ihey neither work on the land themselves nor employ others to work for them. But immediately the land comes 3nto the hands of Europeans it becomes (an asset to the Dominion, whioh, before, it was not. Labour iB employed, the | land is .improved, and it returns, revenue •to the country. Certainly the settlement and development of Native lands would be a good thing for the country. On the other hand I think that the manner in which the Act is being administered by Judge Gilfedder and some other Judges is having the effect of retarding'the progress of the settlement of Native land. Europeans aro discouraged •by heayy' taxation from holding land of more than a Certain value. Natives, although they own much more than that value axe often not allowed to sell. Payment of Just Debts. "I admit at once that the Native requires special protection, but the European in dealing with Natives should not he denied ordinary protection. The Native Land Act .contains this extraordinary provision—that Native land is not to be available as an asset from which to pay the debts contracted by the Native owner. Even after his death the land is not liable. A Native may run up as many debts as he pleases, but in any event his land can nevfcr bo [liable for them. Of course this provision is double-edged in its effect. Not only. does it operate detrimentally to Europeans, but to those Natives who •are' capable of conducting their own . affairs. They are hampered in their business dealings very seriously. The worst' of the section of the Act is that it applies to all Natives —to the comparatively poor Native owning a few aores, and. also to the very rich Native. I know a Maori who has land worth from £40,000 to £50,000, and if he dies all his creditors must go unpaid. It is jm fllnnM- JaK,".