King Country Chronicle Wednesday, September 7, 1910 TOPICS OF THE DAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 292, 7 September 1910, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Wednesday, September 7, 1910 TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A careful perusal of the Native Townships Bill reveals no point likely to benefit the lessees of native land within the native township of Te Kuiti, nor of any similarly placed township. The Bill proposes to place all native lands in those townships under the care of the Maori Land Board in trust for the owners. It provides that all public roads shall be vested in the borough, and for any reserves to be vested in the Crown, as reserves under the Domain Act. The Board is to be a leasing authority under the Public Bodies Leases Act, 190S; beneficial owners must give their written consent to leases; the Board is to pay for any land taken for roads out of revenues from other lands; it may, with the consent of the beneficial owners, sell to the Crown, but to no other person, and the Crown may acquire by purchase, on a resolution of the assembled owners. In what particular are the present lessees benefited? They ask that power shall be given to lessees and owners to mutually agree upon an equitaule price, and for the sale to be completed, subject to the consent of the Maori Land Board. What possible objection can there be to such a proposal? The effect of clause 19 is to take away even such powers as the Beard now has. The Maori Land Board has always had power to sell or lease, though it has rarely been known to exercise the former option. Now it is to be forbidden to sell, except to the Crown. What hope is there of getting the Crown to buy the township, and what money has it for that purpose, anyway? The new Bill seems to make confusion worse confounded, and we hope the meeting to be held tonight will make it perfectly clear that the Bill satisfies no lessee in Te Kuiti. The leases granted in native townships by the Maori Land Board are for practical purposes as good as "Glasgow" leases. They are perpetually renewable, subject to re-valuation, and as far as they go are fair and equitable. It is the right to acquire the freehold that is now being withdrawn, and we specially recommend this aspect of the question to our friends in other native townships. The Bill will not satisfy us in its present state; with a clause giving the powers mentioned it might I do something in that direction.

At the moment of writing this note there is not a single tin of kerosene to be bought in Te Kuiti for love or money, and the asme shortage exists all over New Zealand. We are all very much at the mercy of the

Standard Oil Trust, though to speak fairly, the present difficulty does not result .from its neglect;. A shipment of oil has "missed" in some way, and as New Zoalanders —-wholesale, retail and consumer -live from hand to mouth, it needs no very long "drought" to cause our light to fail. Incidentally, the candle maker benefits, but it makes us wonder why the Taranaki oil companies do not go more energetically into business, and produce a commercial article. If we could buy our kerosene at a fair price in New Zealand, there would be no need to depend upon the Yankee for our illuminating needs. As things arc, a shipwreck or other accident to the vessel carrying our supplies of oil is calculated to land us in darkness, whether ' it be Cimmerian or any other kind.

A movement is afoot to form a rifle club in Te Kuiti. A meeting is to he held in Ilattaway's sample rooms on Saturday next, at S p.m., and it is to be hoped the club will receive every encouragement. The value of such training as practise in shooting gives cannot be over-esti-mated, and as an adjunct to our cadet corps and territorial forces, must make for continued eflieiency, when once the necessary disciplinary training has been given. Rifle clubs are not intended to take the place of the ordinary means of training. They are more for encouraging high eflieiency in shooting, than anything else, and should attract numbers of men who are perhaps too old to take part in the work of the ordinary forces. We wish the new movement every success. It is an evidence of the growth of a feeling of patriotism amongst our people, and, like the archers in day j of old, we may expect to iind keen competition between the clubs in different centres for the honour of holding some coveted trophy.