THE WAIMATE PLAINS.

Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 340, 20 July 1878, Page 4

THE WAIMATE PLAINS.

The New Zealander, the Government newspaper published in Wellington, referring to the action of the Native Minister respecting the Waimate Plains, says :—.The stand that the Hon the Native Minister has taken in the matter of the Waimate Plains must, commend itself to all colonists who wish either for the settlement of the native difficulty, or the piosperify of the West Coast. The Waimate Plains has become almost a household word in New Zealand. Those who are afflicted with “ earth hunger/’ both in this colony and Australia, have for years past waited patiently for. the time when the Plains will be thrown open for settlement. Instructions have been left by Victorian runholders to more than one land agent in this city, to give them early advices when Waimate l will come into the market. As eagerly as the Maori people clung to this portion of the confiscated lands, so eagerly have speculators and settlers waited lor the action of the Government. A large areaof rvell grassed and undulating land,, from which the natives annually obtain large receipts from the cutting -and threshing of- grass seed, presents an almost-unique example in the-history of native lands.. It has hitherto remained unstocked and unimproved save what bounteous nature has done towards its being rendered . suitable for settlement. It may be safely asserted, without fear of contradiction, that an equal acreage of equally favoured land cannot be found in any other, portion of either island. After making ample reserves for' the natives there will certainly be not less than fifty thousand acres -thrown open for. public competition. ■ It will be remembered by those who have taken notice of the sales of confiscated lands, how eagerly, some .'few, years since Whennakura was competed for, and the high prices it obtained.' Waimate; is equal/if not superior to Whennakura. If Whennakura realised some four years since an average of seven pounds an acre/itis only a .matter of calculation, considering the enhanced value of pro- j perty, to estimate what these celebrated j

■plains will realise. What the Native Minister may include in the term Waimate, is at .present unknown ; but if bar reading of our telegrams is correct, and knowing that terms have been nuuta with Te Whiti, it will possibly include the unsold lands- between Waimate proper and Stoney River.