GOVERNMENT DEALINGS WITH MAORI LANDS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 33, 7 June 1907, Page 2

GOVERNMENT DEALINGS WITH MAORI LANDS.

FrOiTi a Ma,on Point of View,

| By Arthur S. Okmsiiy.) (Continued from last week.]

The subject of noxious weeds forms another grievance to the settler, which is nearly on a par with tin; fable of wolf and the lamb. A Kawhia deputation recently brought tins matter under the, notice of the Minister of Lands, and the evil was duly placed to the credit of the Native lands. No mention, however, was made of the Te Rau-a-moa selllers, who had to be supplied by the Covernment with sheep, and paid for the privilege of having' their weeds eaten off. For many years this hot-bed of pollution has been allowed to e.\isl, and every mountain breeze wafting the. seeds of its noxious weeds Tir and wide, has been working destruction on Native lands, and for the fault of some of these so-called settlers, the Natives are blamed. In other localities this evil also exists, and close settlement by Pakcba and Maori, together with propei" administrate in o\' the Noxious Weeds Act, are the remedies. Ever since the year ISB3, the Natives of this district have prayed Unreasonable facilities for the settlement of their own lands, but every outlet to the Native, able and willing' to work his land, remains effectually closed. He may sell to the Crown if he wishes a stroke of the pen is sufficient — but should he wish to borrow he is immediately confronted with all kinds of safeguards, which invariably prevents him from getting a loan. And so it goes on, the Native, provided lie is willing to part with the fee simple, may do so and squander the proceeds, even to his last acre, but to the industrious and provident no ray of hope is permitted to light the path. Truly, the J'akeha has reduced the inquiring of Native lands to a line art. A title good enough to buy, is a title not good enough to mortgage (unless it is by Order-in-Couneil), and thus it is that the thrifty are kept in a ruck with the wastrel, eventually to become grist to the State Land Purchase "Mill." The State has made our lands valueless as security, without any compensating advantages. It has broken down our ancient: institutions and customs, without honestly trying to replace them with belter, thus leaving the multitude like rudderless ships, drifting to destruction. Unoccupied lands and "black blots " are now made synonymous terms for Native lands by the Auckland press, who lead the freeholder and the " boodlers." It is of no moment to them whether the unoccupied lands belong to the Crown or the Pakcba speculator. By implication the public are led to believe thai the unoccupied lands of this disiriel are all Native lands. A Pakeha may lease sixty thousand acres for a Irille, and keep it in a slate of nature, and there isn't a whimper from the same press, but if it were back in the hands of the Natives, like.- the Te Akau block, nothing but confiscation would satisfy them.

Of the two and a-hnlf million) acres acquired by the Crown in this district it would be a very liberal estimate to say that it was carrying a settled European population of one to the square mile at the present lime, while the half-million or thereabouts, still owned by the Nalives, is supporting a Maori population of live or six lo tinsquare mile, besides a large number of Europeams engaged in sawniilling, flaxmilling, lime burning and slock raising. Although no authentic data can be obtained, still, I have no hesitation in asserting that two thirds of the local revenue on the Te Awamulu-Taumar-unui section* of the railway comes from the Maoris directly, or from the products, of their land:;. Yel, when a Kawhia deputation asked for branch railway (which, in the interests of the whole King Country, or Robe l'otac, should be made) llie Minister for Lauds said in effect, that as the line would pass through a large area of Native land, thereby enhancing its value, it would lie unwise to proceed with this work. Kor the benefit of this misinformed Minister, I may state right here that ihe Nalives who own this strip of land are nearly all on " bed-rock," having sold most of their land to the Crown, and if this railway is n,<i built until the Natives voluntarily sell to the Crown, Ihe present Kawhia residents will never sec it. This incident is another of the proverbial "straws in ihe wind," indicative of the true source of the

" Tniho;i " pulley so often foisted on to the Native Minister, who, if untrammelled by his colleagues of the South, and by a certain section of Pakehas, who want unbridled license to scramble for the remaining Native lands, has the undoubted ability and the intimate, knowledge to equitably settle the Native Land Question. The failure of successive (lovcrnments, since iS.jo, to improve the condition of the Maori is anything' but a creditable record. From being an industrious, brave and resourceful people, they are ivduced to an aimless and hopeless nibble. An aboriginal race of the first order has been sacrificd to the lust of plunder. The hand of brotherly-love is never extended to help the simple Maori to keep his place in the strenuous march of civilization ; on the contrary, the pace is being unduly forced for him, so lhat he may fall by the way and his place be taken by another. His land gone, his undoing is accomplished the Native Land Difficulty will be settled but perpetual memorials of rapacity will remain as "black blots "on the title deeds of the Pakcha to this fair land.

A CONSISTENT SEPARATOR. Writing in reference 1o the 'Bailie 880 gallon Separator, Mr. Cooper, Un-well-known Managerof thcMangaloki Dairy Co., says: -" lam pleased 1o say this machine is giving'every satisfaction. It is easily equal lo XBO gallons per hour, and the skimming is ,4 quite equal if no) heller than any oilier machine we have, in fact, il is more consistent, skimming as well at the end of a 3 hours' run, as it does at the start. It lakes about one-fourlh less power to do the same work as two machines each of 440 gallons capacity." Full particulars of both hand and power machines from J. 13. MaeEwan and Co. Ltd., Fort-street Auckland.