THE MURIMOTU DIFFICULTY.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1241, 6 January 1883, Page 2

THE MURIMOTU DIFFICULTY.

The “ Hawke’s Bay Herald ” gives the following explanation of the Muritnotu difficulty:— About ten years ago the Government and Messrs Studholme and Moorhouse were endeavoring to obtain the lease of a large block of land, containing about 99,000 acres, most of it indifferent country. Complications arose through this double endeavor to get the land, and at the upshot Sir Donald M" Lean agreed with Messrs Studholme and Moorhouse that if the Government obiained the leaie they should have a sub-lease for 14 years Whether this is a wise arrangement is questionable, but there can be no doubt that it was come to, and the Murimotu Lease Validation Act was passed last session to validate the agreement. This arrangement was not, however, at once carried out—we believe it is not yet completed—and Messrs Studholme and Moorhouse continued to occupy the land under an agreement with certain Natives who claimed the block. A lease could not be obiained, as the land had not passed through the Court The Patea Natives, represented by Hiraka, Karaitiau, Kitimana, and Anipaka, also claimed a share in the Murimotu block, and they objected to an agreement or lease. As they could not get what they considered their rights, they from time to time gave Messrs. Sttidbolmo and Moorhouse considerable trouble, and successive difficulties culminated in the seizure of the wool clip on the station. There will, with this season’s clip, be three years’ wool stored at the station, worth about £21,000. The Patea natives last year, succeeded in getting the block through the Native Lands Court at Taupo, notwithstanding strong opposition from Major Kemp and a party of Wanganui natives ; and the Patea claimants succeeded in establishing their claim and getting their names inserted in the certificate of title. The position then was that Messrs. Studholme and Moorhouse, acting in conjunction with the Government endeavoured to obtain a legal lease, but so far unsuccessfully. Mr. Bryce’s visit to Murimotu is primarily to see what can be done about the lease ; and secondly, to see if some amicable arrangement cannot be come to with the objecting natives, so that the wool may be released. A telegram received a few days ago stated that Mr. Bryce had managed to get the wool released, but that he could not arrange for the lease of the block, the Patea natives objecting.