THE COMING SESSION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1097, 18 August 1871, Page 2

THE COMING SESSION.

A correspondent has furnished tha Southern Cross with the following :—- " There can be no doubt but during the present session a considerable amount of time will be devoted to the native .question and the Native Lands Act. That there will be some alteration in the present Native Lands Act is almost certain, as its working has been found both unsuitable and costly. It is known that some of our members who left in the Luna are ' brimful 1* of suggestions about the necessity of its total repeal and one member tafoes with him the draft of a new bill for simplifying the machinery of obtaining titles to native lands, and for putting a stop to excessive native charges. Another alteration proposed is the doing away with some of the alleged extreme power allowed the Judges, as shown in the rules prepared. Owing to the Disqualification Act of lust session, it is also,

said Mr Fenton, the senior Judge of the Native Lands Court, at Auckland, will not be able to take his seat in the Legist lative Council, to which he was summoned a few years ago, but it is under? stood he proceeds in the next steamer to Wellington, on business connected with his Court. C .douei H ailtaiu, as one of the Commissioners appointed to collect evidence about the working of the Native Lands Act of IBG2, and subsequent enactments, has received, it is said, ut Hawke’s Bay, a mass of documents from Mr Fenton’s office about the Native Lands Purchase Departments, and in sup? port of the present legislation. Whether rightly or wrongly, the number of officials in connection with this Court is the subject of much comment, but no doubt during the present session these matters will be inquired into.”