PARLIAMENT.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8902, 23 August 1907, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

House of Representatives. . Press Association. U \ t Tl o Ho r ) i Ac n it rr g her of lo iB 11 i ic n ud the \j, a hii i i t fi il stages. Ac n e rc g n 1IHCUIS CO Clio ivliujri Liuiil oOCCleniuUt Act Amendment Bill, made m commit! e i r i t i to. M \ b J i n c mo Maori lauds wore limited lor sale to tho Crown, the miurat value ot tho laud i g nor ( no as whac cue Crown made iC, consequently. lie argued, Clic natives were not receiving cue run vaiuo of the laud. He read from a Departmental report to show that land which was worth for timber alone £ls per acre, yet the Government was giving only’7s fid per acre to the natives. He urged that in future the Crown should not purchase any more native lauds for sale, or lease : they should bo put up to public auction.

Mr Ngata said the Government should realise that the system of the Crown purchase of native lauds from 1893 to 1899 had boon the cause of the present deadlock. Ho nrgodjthat the system of purchasing from bodies of natives should be adopted, instead of from individual natives, who were often influenced where, they were weakest, viz., near a public house. Ho added that where purchases were made in the maimer suggested a portion of the purchase money should bo held iu trust for the benefit of the natives. Ho asserted that iu the King Country, the Native Laud Purchase Officer had had to go to adjoining territory outside the prohibition area to purchase native lands. The result had been in many eases that the natives came from the prohibited area, and, 1 laving, sold their lands, spent tlie whole of the money in the public houses. This must bo put a stop to. He had not the value of the laud in view, but the degradation of the native race, and bills must cease.