The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE : TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1883.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 5, 6 November 1883, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE : TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1883.

The present sitting of the Native Lands Court will shortly be brought to a close j but it is only in the future i that the full benefit and importance of the arduous tasks of difficult subdivision cases which the judge has so successfully and ably dealt with, will be fully felt and appreciated. Large tracts of the very choicest lands in the Bay have long lain idle, or, at best, have only served ae grazing pastures, on account of their doubtful title. No one Would attempt to put the land under crops, or to . improve it in any way on account of the insecurity of the tenure. But now we may shortly hope for a better state of things. Blocks Will be cut up into allotments and leased or sold under conditions which will justifiy men of small capital and large enterprise in at once setting about making those permanent improvements which must result in the general advancement and prosperity of the whole place. The one great danger which we have most reason to dread, and which it is most necessary for us guard against is the land passing into the hands of large capitalists and monopolists; for should this unfortunately happen, it must undoubtedly have the eSect of greatly retarding the otherwise bright prospects which at present seem to be within our immediate attainment. Look at the Whataupoko and Kaiti Blocks with their splendid virgin arable lands, and picture them in the hands of energetic small holders with their homesteads surrounded with smiling crops of grain—what vitality, what trade and circulation in all branches of commerce, they would occasion. Not alone would they be producers, but also large consumers. The butcher, baker, tailor, and general storekeeper would participate equally with the whole district in the benefits which would arise from this state of things. One family occupying a position above pictured, and in the occupation of a tolerable farm would prove fully—nay more productive and beneficial to the place than a run of thousands of acres. Looking at things from this point of view, we cannot do other than most cordially join in the expressions of the judge, who has done so much towards removing those obstacles which have hitherto proved such insuperable impediments to our rapid development—who said, when foiled and frustrated in his arduous endeavours to effect a fair and equitable sub-division of the Kaiti Block, that the obstructors —or rather their advisers—were acting iu a manner diametrically opposed to the progress , of the place, inasmuch as they were i preventing the opening up of a most . valuable block of land intimately con- • nected with the best interests of the . Bay. That these obstacles may be : speedily removed, must be the earnest : wish of all those who have the real : welfare of the place at heart; and any ■ one wilfully and selfishly opposing this desirable result cannot be looked i upon in any other light than that of a • public enemy.