The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, JUNE 9, 1884.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4019, 9 June 1884, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, JUNE 9, 1884.

In an address to the electors of Mount Ida, MrDe Lautour says:—"Were the natives •treated rationally, and allowed to deal with the lands, which are not required for their support, according to the wish of their tribes, aud were all dealings with individual natives severely repressed, there need be no Armed Constabulary Department, or heroic sieges of past or future Parihakas. The Maori has naturally no conception of individual ownership of land. In our endeavour to force our artificial forms of land tenure upon him we have made the weak the prey of the strong, and have opened a field for the operations of the most demoralised of our race. This has made the North Island a gambling field, retarded the settlement of tlie country, and partially destroyed a native race capable of a better destiny, but whose monument ivill be a brief record of ruin caused by European civilisation." Mr De Lautour's viewa are certainly shared by a large and an increasing number of colonists Avho have given the subject any serious consideration. It was no donbt the knowledge of the evils of the existing system, rather than any desire to attach to his administration a change in the law for tho sake of experiment, that induced Mr Bryce to draft a new Native Lands Bill. The leading feature of the proposed soheme, and which will be a Government measure ' upon which the Ministry will stake their existence, is to stop summarily all private buying of native lands. The Wellington correspondent of the New Zealand Herald, who is, apparently, behind the scenes, gives the following sketch of the forthcoming Bill. From this we learn that Avhen natives Avish to sell land, the title to which has been settled by the Land Court in the ordinary way, the Waste Lands Board will dispose of it as nearly a« possible in the same manner as they do with CroAvn lands, blocks being cut up into such sized sections as may be deemed most suitable in each case, and the lot* being auctioned by the Chief Commissioner in each district; the procoeds after the Government charges have been deducted, being paid to the Maoris partly in cash and partly in annuities terminable and perpetual, as the circumstances of each case may warrant. A most important provision is that the majority of the owners of any block Avill have power to decide on the sales, so that a small minority of obstructives will be deprived of the power of , thwarting the progress of settlement. Th« ! presumption is that as the native lands are made chargeable with rates, there will be a groat impetus to sell. The power of the Government to purchase direct will be retained, not from any desire Government should be a "big l land dealer, but because it is felt that there are instances in which this will be the only way to solve difficulties, as in: the case ,of large blocks difficult of subdivision as between owners, and in other cases where there may bo complications and conflict of interests. This will be the sole extent te which the term "pre-emption" can be applied to the new policy, and though the Government intend to retain the power, the extent to Avhich its exercise will be feasible will depend, of course, on parliamentary votes of ways and means and financial considerations. It is not expected that the new way of disposing of native land* will clash with the disposal of ordinary Crown lands, as both will be equally opon to buyers. It is considered that any recurrence whatever of the abuses prevalent under the old pre-emption will be impossible, and the Government have come to the mature determination that this policy, together with the stimulus of rating, is, under all circumstances, the way best calculated to attain the great end of making the vast acreage of now idle land productive. Should it bo found to be necessary, the Government will be prepared to slightly add to tho strength of tho Native Land Court, but the new policy is not expected to very materially increase the rapidity of the settlement of ownership. As to existing incomplete private negotiations, a Commission will be appointed to go into them on such a basis that, as to those which have been conducted in a legal Avay, the parties concerned will have their interests protooted. These cases, however, are believod to be very few, but it is thought there may be a considerable number of cases in which there has been illegality in some direction or other, and it may be accepted that those who have made outlay in illegal negotiations stand to lose. The Government feel that it is now too late in the day to try the scheme desired by Ngatiporou and others—that is the decision of title by the tribe, and its being vested in a committee of the chiefs subject to the endorsement of the Court, the committee to have power to negotiate and receive offers, but the final decision to rest with the general body of owners in public meeting. The principal object of this being to facilitate dealings as buyers would then, instead of having to hunt up perhaps hundreds of owners, spread over a wide area, to deal only with afoAV principal and responsible men. Mr Bryce thinks that though this plan might have been best at a much earlier period, it is now too late to make the experiment. It is thought that if the new scheme is sanctioned by Parliament, it can be put in going order almost at once, and that the first sales under the new departure would take placo Avithin three months