LEASING NATIVE LANDS.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 365, 12 June 1908, Page 2

LEASING NATIVE LANDS.

(to the editor.) Sir, —I refer B Kawhia County : abuses may occur in other parts but we are content to voice Kawhia’s troubles. Let all who wish to secure a piece of laud to make a home know that although many capable young men are willing and anxious to get leases of native areas, and that lhe natives are anxious to lease and to sign application to the power appointed by this Dominion’s parliament (rhe Native Land Board presided over by a judge of the Native Lind Court) the application to lease is sent mostly to a lawyer in Auckland and then the waste of time and delay starts, expenses being piled up until tho appliciant wishes he bad not decided to settle in New Zealand. The result is known to a|l. We have Bullions of acres idle, and the best of.settlers are going to Queensland and elsewhere. The land held by tho Crown here is almost as hard to obtain as Native land. What is the cause of this foolish state of New Zealand’s land laws? Tba question

is easy to answer: It ia on account of the apathetic, imbecile attitude o! farmers, and all other classes who have made New Zealand their home, at election time. An election will soon be here tnerefore let all form political meetings as the labour unions do. Give each native his land, and make all unsettled Crown lands available for settlement under the optional tenure. The natives want their land ; let them have it—and also give them equal rights with ua.—Youra, etc-, A SUFFERER