West Coast Native Leases

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 235, 8 October 1904, Page 2

West Coast Native Leases

PUBLIC TRUSTEE IN DEFENCE. In v,iew of what licus boon said in respect to the effects of the leasing system on the natives of the Went Coast, the statement of the Public Trustee o> the subject contained in his annual report will be read wiih interest. Poynton says The total area ol' the reserve under tin; West Coast Settlement Reserve Act is 189,000 acres, of which 148,712 acres are leased, or held under occupation license by natives. The system of occupation license had encouraged tlve natives to abandon communism. Natives holding occupation licenses are, as a rule, more industrious and progressive than those lining under the communal system. The number of occupation licenses in forco is 303, and the area held under them 20,30-1 acres, thb average size of the holdings being about (ilj acres. Mr I'oynton prints the office balance-sheet in connection with the management of these reserves to show that the commission charged barely pays working expenses. The total commission for the year was £2633, anid the protit to the office £2l. The average commission charged was £6 1 fis, being 7} per cent, on rents' collected ifroml Europeans, and 31 on occupation license rents. To grant tiie freehold of those lands to the lessees would be, says he, a gross breach of faith with the natives, who had been assured in the most solemn manner that the reserves' would be their a'ul their children's heritage for ever. T 0 violate that promise would, ho feared, liuve 'a disastrous effect on the native mind.