MAORI LAND BILL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1574, 3 October 1905, Page 3

MAORI LAND BILL.

AUCKLAND OBJECTIONS!

The New Zealand Herald states: "The Maori Land Bill submitted to the House of Representatives yesterday is a pitiful confession of weakness end incompetence on the part of the Government. It does not attempt to meet either the olaims of the Europeans or the demands of the Maoris. It is a glaring effort to burke the whole question by giving a new lease of life to the discredited Maori Land; Connoils ia order to oontinue the polioy of establishing in Now Zealand a bureaugoverned Maori landlordry exacting raok«fet from land-hnngry Pakeha settlers. The Maori Land OonfloiW have completely failed to make any progress whatever, even in the direction of forming a hereditary Maori landlordry, for the very simple reason that the Maori is shrewd enough not to trust them' and to prefer a bird in the band to two in the bush. His distrust is largely based upon the fact that they are dominated by the nominee section, through the casting vote of the president; yet tbs Government proposes to remove this distrust by makrng them wholly nominative, taking away from the Maori people the shadow of representation on the Councils now enjoyed. The Maori will be even leas likely to place his landß in the hands of those " reformed ” Maori Land Councils than in the hands of the existing bodies, and - this, we all know, he has refused ;to do with a practical unanimity of refusal. But oven supposing he did so, what would be the result? His surplus lands would be «• thrown open' for settlement ” on shortterm leases —in no case to exceed fifty years—and every country school child oqnld tell us what sort of “ settlement ” would follow. The Bill is preposterous. There is no probability that it will become law during . the present Parliament, and. the most enthusiastic advocate of settlement will find nothing to regret in its anticipated deoease. It is 1 as an exhibition of the amazing iodifierenoe of the Southern Administration to the most important question aSeoting the progress and prosperity of the North Island that it will attract public attention. The Auokland Star states There are several minor points about the Bill which deserve commendation. The administration of the income derived from the lands by the on behalf of, the owners would probably be,beneficial. The power granted to the Minister for Lands to make advanoes to Maoris by way of mortgage out of the Lands for Settlement Account is another important consideration. Certainly, if the Maoris are to be treated as ordinary landowners, they should receive the benefit of the Advances to Settlers Aofc and all similar enactments. But these 'ifiaatures of the Bill are not sufficiently important to balance its weakness in other directions. IThe debats in the House indi cates clearly enongh that the proposals of the Premier have not mot with any serious degree of approval. No attention need be paid to the oomplaiuts of the Opposition that there is not enough time left this session to disonas tbo bill. It is the business of an Opposition to oomplain about the Government, and sometimes Mr Massey and his friends aot as if this were the only kind of pnbllo doty with which they are familiar. Mr Seddon has taken the right course in referring the bill to the Native Affairs Committee, aad we tborougbly'apprbve of his reiterated insistence that any measure dealing with the native lands question must be made aooeptable to the Blaoris themselves. But we are not inclined to believe that this House or any other likely to be. ohosen by the people of this colony will approve of any measure which does not provide a substitute for tbo discredited Maori Councils, and wbioh After proper and adequate reserves have been set aside for the support of the Maoris, does not put Maori waste lands on the same basis as Crown lands so fa* as regards tho acquisition of the freehold.