MR BALLANCE ON THE NATIVE LANDS COURTS BILL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 192, 15 August 1877, Page 4

MR BALLANCE ON THE NATIVE LANDS COURTS BILL

we take the following from the Posfs report 6'f 'lhe Parliamentary proceedinga on, Wednesday, night:— tfd^.j -^fl Q^ iQ a ver y logical and tsmpbrate apbeeh, atated that the Bill should be x d6ait J with as affecting not onljr^Ka -North Islarid ' but the whole 'New Zealand, and he considered, |6 would be most disastrous, in -$)'f(ik'' iif passed into law.- The Government proposition was that the native lands shbuld pass into the hands of the Europeans, and the very faciliSiesra'tbe present Bill "spoken of by W^Morney-General would' have the eflfact of throwing them entirely into the bauds of Hand-sharks and capitalists. : ;.VMi-aIl very well to ffaj^that the w&^i-'w as opened up for the poorer class of settlers, but how were they to cbjs ! vvith the tricks and chicanery which it was well known by them all were carried on by the large land speculators, Who, it was well known, had liand rings formed in nearly every part of the country to snap up any property *hat might 'come witbin the reach of their capacious maw. As an instance, he might refer to the fact thafc at present there. -were, something like 140,000 acres bri'the JMturimuio Plains, oo ihe West Coast, which were under the eye MMJg«»Bp'..of these very capitalists, who had spared neither time nor money %. bbprpjeting all the preliminary arrangements. , In dealing with the subject, he conceived that the question the Government hud to solve was justice and satisfaction to the native race, •—(hear, hear)— problems which were not to be found, in whole or in part, iv the Government measure. The principle hud been Wfe<frifatf>UtoU out of-the hands of the Maoris, but surely ii was unfair to legislate on au immorality, Jn not gelting them ; -the highest price for their landi-^Xh. honorable member went on that there was no hope for the proper amendment of the Bill in committer as it was wanting in those fu uda tidrit'al principles ori which auy.. mJßia^'uiS. should be based, and stated that the Bill should be taken back by tho Government, and an entirely new a^d more exhaustive measure brought io, one having something like a priuuiple .to repommeod it. There were leu millions of .acres of native, land, yet to bfe'dispoaed of, ami if the present meaBure were passed' it would inevitably lead ;to disastjpua results, as the native who were not dying oui as bad been* stated, but were increasing, would op-

pose it to the utosost of their power. The honorable member; who concluded his speech amid |loud cheering from both sides of the House then moved the following auendraenfc:-~"Tbat the Native Lands Bill npw before the House is unsatisfactory,- and should bo; withdrawn with a view to so alter its 5 provisions as to make, it more in con-: foraaity with* the expressed wished. and ; real interests of the people of both races, and to ensure (should the Government abandon the policy, of: ac-, ? quiring native land as a public estate)) that any measure under which purchases! by private person^ may be permitted,! shall be of such a character as to en-! courage the acquisition and settlement; of native lands in limited are as by! small settlers."