NATIVE LAND DEALS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2823, 14 July 1916, Page 8

NATIVE LAND DEALS

WORK OF PAST YEAR DETAILS OF THE AREAS The official report ou the work of tlie Native Land Courts and Maori Land Boards for the year ended March 31 last, was presented to Parliament yesterday by the Minister of .Native Affairs. . The report states that during the year 131 sittings of the Native Land Court were held, the total number.of cases notified for hearing being 19,709. A total .area of 52,'244 acres of customary land was clothed with title during the year. Partition orders to the manlier of 2172 were made, affecting.sl2,(Ml acres. During thepast six years 7Si() partitions'had been made by the Court, and of this number no fewer than 4235 had been affected during the past two years. The year's revenue in fees, etc., amounted to as' against >56([49 in the previous year. The area of. land vested iu and administered by the .Maori Land Boards last year totalled 959,19S acres, excluding .sixteen' blocks, comprising 7163 acres, which had been revested iu Native owners. The alienations of vested lands consisted of twelve leases affecting 1855 acres, and -18. transfers affecting 99;> acres. The boards, during the year, approved of 597 leases'of Native freehold land comprising 99,811 acres, and had confirmed 1119 transfers (apart from salcvs to tlio Crown) affecting 117,H32 acres. These figures disclosed an increase of 231 leases and 22,218 acres of last year's totals in respect of land leased, and a decrease of 42 transfers and 43.185. acres of laud sold.

A small number of alienations of land in Native townships had taken place during the year, four, lessees at Otorohanga and two at Te Kuiti having acquired the freehold of their sections. Iu addition, the Native Land Purcha.se Board, on behalf of the Crown, had acquired the freehold of 71 sections in the laumarnnui borough, _• The 1 report states that the Native Jfnd Purchase Board had dealt with a steadily increasing volume of work during the year, some 73 blocks, comprising 116,655 acres being proclaimed Crown lands. The year's actual purchases comprised 154,006 acres, as.compared Tritli 9(},20G acres during the previous year. Negotiations t were in progress for 'the acquisition of 793,300 acres of Native land, atid a start was being made with the purchase of a number of fresh blocks m the Uriwera Country. Approximately 205,799 acres ot Native land hail been subject, during, the year, to prohibition against private alienation 1 . During the, past six years the total sum that had been expended on the purchase of Native lands through ' lh e Native Lands Purchase Board was .£1,153,850, of which «£71i,491 had been expended during the past three years. The total area of Native land alienated by way of sale during the six years was approximately 1,568,394 acres, of which 531,848 acres had been acquired ombehalf of the ci r^lo area Purchased on behalf of the Government during the past three years was 331,881 acres. The /Hon. A. T. Ngata spoke of the question of providing land for the settlement of returned Maori soldiers. Although the ballots for soldiers 1 sections were open to all , soldiers—pakeha and Maori alike—the latter,- owing to ignorance of the provisions, neglected to take full advantage of it. The- Maoris had decided that they should ask their people to sell or lease , blocks of land to the Government, and that such lands should be earmarked for Maori soldiers. Considerable areas of'land, which had been vested in Maori Land Boards, might-bo'.utilised in this way. The Legislature had not armed these boards with sufficient powers, financial and otherwise; to enable them, to administer these lands to advantage, What was proposed was that returned Maori soldiers should be given greater facilities than now existed for acquiring portions of these lands, and that their applications should be given priority over those of men who had stayed at home. In referring to the pensions of soldiers, he urged that these be supplemented wherever possible by local effort. In the early part of the war ..the Uriwera Natives made a gift of land to the war funds. There might be other Native communities as liberally disposed, and any assistance that could be given in connection with such generous actions should be given by the Government. Mr. M T . T. Jennings, in referring to certain recent dealings-in Ivativo lands, 6aid that in'the Ongarue district one man had been allowed during the past three years to acquire no fewer tnan 13,000 acres of, Native land. To allow Native lands to remain idle was a great evil, but it was perhaps an even greater evil to allow these lands to be taken up for purely speculative purposes as had been done during the past, three or four years.

The. Hon. Dr. Pomare expressed sympathy with the remarks of Mr. Ngata regarding land for returned . Maori soldiers, . who he hoped would be treated more generously than those Maoris who had fought with the pakehas against their own kith and kin .in the Maori wars, and who received only four acres of land each.

Mr. C. H. Poole spoke of the advisableuess of turning the present idle Nntivo lands to advantage.-, Mr.-J.- A. Young said that it. was necessary in tic best interests of the country that Natives should be allowed to dispose of land for which they could not find profitable use. They should not allow a wealthy landed aristocracy to grow up amongst the Maoris.

The Minister of Native Affairs, Hon. •W. H. Herries, in replying, said that when the whole history of Native legislation and the dealings with the Maoris was considered, it would be found to coinpare more 'than favefurably with the treatment of aboriginal races in any country. There had been mistakes, such, as for instance, as those that led to tko Maori War, ■ but the treatment of- the Natives on the whole afforded little ground for criticism. Ho thought that in, say, another fifty years, there would he no need to have special laws for Maoris, as by that time the race would have .become merged in the European race. As to the purchase of Native lands for speculative purposes, ho pointed, out that a person acquiring land had to mane a declaration as to the area of land that he already held. ' He did not think it possible that a man could acquire 13,000 acres of land as stated by Mr. Jennings, but if the latter would furnish liim with particulars he would make inquiries into the matter. Ho defended the legislation providing for the Kuropeanising of Natives who wished to be placed on the saiu.o footing us Europeans. As to Native land dealing, ho saiil that various systems had been fried until 1903, when the llouss made Native lauds and leases subject to the' power of purchase by private' persons as well as by the Crown. The one desire of the people in (.he North Island .was to see the lnn/1 cultivated. He referred fo the old "laihoa" policy, and said it would have Tveen a good thing if a-vigorous policy of purchases, of Native laud by the Crown along the roufe of (ho Main Trunk railway had been adopted prior to the construction of the railwa v.

Mr. .Tennings Rave the name of the man who. he said, had acquired a larx« area of Native land in his district.. He also named the block.

Mr. liorries said that lliera were a number of blocks bearing the name given. He had placed a proclamation on one of these blocks, and it might be the one referred to.