NATIVE LANDS.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 922, 22 June 1903, Page 4

NATIVE LANDS.

PROSPECTS OF SETTLEMENT.

The Hon. J. Carroll, interviewed by a Post representative, on tho question of the opening of native lands in the North Island for settlement, said there are now rnoro than 200,000 acres in tho hands of the Aotea Land Council, whoso jurisdiction extends right up the West Coast of the North Island. There are several survey parties out on the Ohutu Block, near Wanganui, some 00,000 acres of which will bo open for tender on the 15th of this month. From there the survey parties will proceed to cut up other blocks and prepare them for submission to tho public. This work is being carried on as speedily as possible, and as all the land has been formally transferred to the Council, and all the preliminary work has been done, the surveying is all that remains, and that is being done as fast as possible. In the King Country, Mr Carroll continued, we are completing the deeds of transfer to tho Council of about 40,000 acres. On the 23td of this month there will be held at Te Kuiti a meeting between all the tribes of the Rohe Potae, at which Mahuta will be present. As a result of that meeting I expect a settlement of the differences which have existed between them and Mahuta, and I am sure that .tbore will then be no objection to the transfer of 700,000 acres of land to the Council. As soon as that transfer has been made surveyors will bo set to work, and the pre paration of the land for offer to the public will be begun without delay. Up to the present the native owners have been about equally divided on the question of transferring their lands to the Council. This meeting will result in a solid vote being given for transfer. The Otorohanga and To Kuiti townships and lands in the immediate vicinity are being cut up at the present time, and I hope that next month they will be offered to the public. Both To Kuiti and Otorohanga are very important centres. They are the key positions to the King Country. In the Wai-

kato we have just set up the Laud Council and it has already done a lot of good work in confirming titles and other formal worK, which formerly used to be dene by the Native Land Court. Already, however, Mahuta and his people have handed over more than 40,000 acres to the Council. It will take some little time to get this on the market, as it is Papatutu land (that is land which has not been through the Native Land Court), and the question of ownership will have to be dealt with by the Council. What the Council propose to do is to set aside the larger portion of the block for general settlement, and to reservo the remainder for settling the native owners upon, on the same conditions as attach to European occupiers. The same policy will be pursued where possible in the case of other blocks. North of /Auckland we have the Parengarenga Block of 40,000 acres, which has been transferred to the Council. There is an abundance of gum on it and forests, and the Council is now considering whether the land shall be cut up into sections and leased, or whether the Council will issue gumdigging licenses. The bulk of the native lands in the North are Papatutu, the area being estimated at about 400,000 acres. About 100,000 acres has been investigated by the block committees appointed by the Council, and they have determined the ownership of the same. All that remains to be done is to define the interests of the individual owners—to make out the share list so to speak.