MOKAU LANDS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 377, 12 July 1911, Page 5

MOKAU LANDS.

POSITION OF THE STATE. It was suggested by Mr Massey in his Wellington speech that the throwing open of the Mokau lands locked up through years of litiation had been accomplished under circumstances which made it deesirable to hold a public inquiry. The matter was referred to by Sir James Carroll in his speech at Christchurch on Friday, the Acting-Premier explaining in ccsiderable detail the lengthy course of the historic claim to the Mokau lands by Mr Joshua Jones. The land comprises 56,000 acres of the Mokau district, explained Sir James. Mr Joshua Jones claimed to have a right to lease this area, and a Tory Government had confirmed that right and given him a fifty-six years' lease at a pepper-corn renal. The land was locked up for many years, and was a hindrance to the settlement of the distrct. Jones became involved in liabilities in England, and his rights under the lease passed into other hands. The value of tne leasehold was greater than the value of the .freehold, and negotiations for the purchase of the freehold were stifled. Finally the native owners were paid i£25,000, only 80 per cent, of the value set upon it by the Valuer-Gene-ral. The State had no liability in regard to the land but, nevertheless, the land was put under Native Land Act provisions, and could only be dealt with in parcels under the limitations of the Act. The present Administration was in no way responsible for the locking up of the land, and on its disposal had safeguarded the interests of the people.