Settlement of Native Lands.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 351, 28 February 1908, Page 3

Settlement of Native Lands.

The Native Land Commission, consisting of the Ch if f Justice )Sir Robert Stout) and Mr Ngat>;, M.P., are busily engaged in examining native laudsand taking evidence in the Rotorua district, with a view io reporting on them > ao that they may be opened up for set* tiemen t. Very few people outside the Dominion realise what the Native land question means. According to a return presented to the Legislative Council, on the motion of Mr J. D. Ormond, it appears that io 1906 there were 7.497,000 acras of Native land in the North Island, occupied and unoccupied. of which 2.670,000 acres were unproductive. There are block? of thousands of acres of land fit for settlement belonging to the natives without a single human being resident j on them. S<’ far the natives have shown only a limited desire to utilise the land themselves, and the law has in the majority of cases, prevented them from selling it to Europeans. What makes the position all the more exasperating from the European point of view, is that the Government, to appease the land-hunger, are taking compulsorily, for lease in sub-divisions J lands belonging to European settlers, who are occupying and improving the properties. The work of the oommieioi) sb uld have the effect of removing or at aw rate mitigating this scandal, for sue i t really is. The commission is ascertaining first of all the needs of the natives, so that enough land may be reserved for their use, and after making provision for that, is setting aside for European settlement large areas not required by the Maoris. These will be disposed of partly on leasehold, and partly on freehold tenure. Dr Findlay, the Attorney-Gene-ral, stated recently thee he saw no reason why a million acres should not be made available before Parliament meets. If tbis is done, it will give an immense impetus to the North Island, which for some years past, has betn outstripping the South Island in general progress.—“ Paksha,” in the Australasian.