WANT OF LAND IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5401, 19 July 1878, Page 2

WANT OF LAND IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

Tub difference in the rate and in the character of progress between the North and South Islands of New Zealand is very marked, and is greatly in favor of the South.- The cause of that difference is not far to teek; it lies in the fact that from the start, so to say, the Southern settlers have had an unlimited area of land which in its natural state was at once capable of being made productive by the’ simple operation of placing stock upon it. The whole was moreover made legally available for use upon very reasonable and encouraging terms at a very early period. The men who occupied these wild lands, who took their flocks and herds into the wilderness, and thus laid the foundations broad and firm of the national wealth it is the fashion now to decry and to envy, and it is then .properties that the now economy desires to “burst up” by the force of taxatior and the popular will. That the discover} of gold accelerated enormously the rati of progress, by inducing immigration and affording profitable employment to thost who were attracted by the new promise ol fortune, is of course recognised anc admitted, but it was only the free anc uncontested right of access to the whoh land which made the success of the gold mining, as it hadpnade the success of tin pastoral interests. In the North Island, from the founda tion of the colony, conditions exactly op posite prevailed. The native occupatioi and title stood persistently in the way o the European occupation, as they oontinm to stand at this hour. All the efforts wliicl have been made, by the Crown in th early days under its pre-emptive rights by individuals under the operations of th' Fitzroy proclamations and at a late: time under the authority of the severa Native Lands Acts, and by tho Govern ment itself recently with the means placet at its disposal by the Immigration am Public Works Acts, have had result which cannot be regarded as other that ridiculously insignificant when the who! area of land thus acquired is comparei with the whole area of the land whicl still remains in tho hands of the nativ owners. A map not long since pub lished by the authority of the Govern meat, and distributed for the infonna tion of members of the General Assembly shows these relative proportions at a glance and with startling distinctness. Withii the boundaries of a straight line drawi from Kawhia to Tanranga, in the north and a straight line drawn from Wanganu to Napier, in the south, the whole inter veiling territory, containing many million of acres, —excepting only a narrow fring here and there on the seashore, —is tintei on the chart in the appropriate browi which denotes “native” laud’. Even i: what may be called the settled district the land tinted in the aboriginal color and still held by natives, may be said t be- equal in extent to the aggregate of th spots which are tinted white, as indicatin the extent of the unsold Crown lands Broadly, if may be said that in compariso; with the South Island there is no land i: tlie North Island at present in tho hand of the Crown which is available for sal and settlement, or op6n for occupation am use by those who may desire to beoom colonists. Herein, as we have said, lie the. cause of tho difference between tin rate of progress respectively in the Nortl and the South Islands. It needs n< argument to prove it; it is rendered 01 tho chart strikingly patent, and visibl physically to the naked eye of the raos careless observer.

Whether or not the waiver of the Crown’s pre-emptive right secured to it by the_troaty of Wait angi was a politic proceeding need not now be discussed. The right has passed away, wo fear, beyond reach of recovery, in its original' completeness at any rate. We, in common with many others, believed that the original error of surrendering that right was a fatal one; but there Was an an teoedent error which perhaps made the waiver of pre-emption inevitable under the circumstances, and that was in the failure of the Imperial Government to provide, in the early, years of the colony, the moans of acquiring from the natives, not a national estate, but oven the small quantity of land which was required to meet the immediate wants of the first settlers in the neighborhood of the capital in Auckland.. Thqpossession of land readily available for settlement is the fundamental condition of progress ; in this island that condition is wanting. There is abundance of land; not much less than two-thirds of the _ area of this island is shown to be still in the hands of the natives; but under the operation of existing laws even the most legitimate efforts to acquire a satisfactory title to such land are subject to failure, or are liable, when apparently successful, to be defeated by the legal ingenuity of the-disinterested professional protectors of the weak and credulous Maori. This is what we see now in Hawke’s Bay and elsewhere. It needs no argument to prove the necessity of some action being taken, and thatspoadily, to remedy a state of affairs which is an insuperable barrier to healthy progress. An effort iu this direction was made by the late Government in the introduction of the Native Land Courts Bill; the time was, however, out of joint, and-that Bill, which might have been made, with such modifications as the Government were willing to accept, a workable and useful measure, was sacrificed to faction, by being made the ground of a party fight in tho House of Representatives. It is a burning question, however, the want of land for settlement, and it must be faced. As we have had, happily, no promises given on the stump or elsewhere in regard to it, there ' may bo a hope that it has engaged the attention of Ministers in the few moments which they have been enabled to devote to the consideration of public questions, and that something will really be done in regard to it. After the determination which has been expressed by the Government not “ to show their hands ” either to friends or opponents, it would be, perhaps, useless to suggest—that for the information of the natives alone, and in order to secure their intelligent assent and co-oporatiou—-the new Native Lands Act, if there- is to bo one, should bo translated into Maori and circulated in native districts before the meeting of the Assembly. If the Government should fail in their duty of originating legislation in this regard, wo do not doubt that some independent member will take their work in hand.