NATIVE LANDS RATING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 8 July 1907, Page 2

NATIVE LANDS RATING.

llr J. 13. Itoy ; as solicitor to the Taraliaki County Council, Clit'tun County Council, and Parihaka Roail Hoard, has written to the lion. .Minister for Native All'airs, concerning the failure of the machinery of "The Native Land Rating Act, 1001," to give the desired assistance to local bodies in the recovery of rates on native lands. The letter was supplementary to the statements recently addressed to the Acting-Premier and the Native Minister by representative deputations from these and other local bodies. Within the counties of Taranaki and Clil'ton, and the Parihaka Road District, he wrote, there was a very large area of native lands which were mainly administered by the Public Trustee under "The West Coast Settlement Act, 1802," and in the county of Clifton there was also a large area which still remained native lands where the titles had been individualised by the Native Land Courts, but the ownership of which still remained in the native owners. The rates payable in respect of all such lands aggregated large sums, but as the native population of Taropaki was numerous, the liability of individual natives for rates in respect of these lands was usually small. With regard to lands held by the Public Trustee as owner under the West Coast Settlements Act tlie'TrusEeo was liable for rates only to the extent of the funds in his hands available in respect of any such lands. "As the native occupiers of such lands generally occupy under license from the Public Trustee without payment of rent, the funds in his hands in respect of such lands are consequently nil, and though such occupiers may be entitles to receive from the Public Trustee rents in respect of other lands let to Europeans, there are legal as well as practical difficulties in attaching the same upon any judgment recovered for payment of rates for land ocupied by the natives themselves. The personal remedy of distress is useless, as when there are assets—which is not often the case—the natives are astute enough to disclaim ownership for the time. The expense of issuing summonses, especially for small amounts, is considerable, as interpretation and service charges have to be added to costs of court.; in many cases tin; costs nnil charges are (enfold the amount of rates sued for. All these difficulties are accentuated when there are several native occupiers liable for the same rate. In the case of unpartitioned lands under section 7. the difficulty in proving ownership and also in identifying the ordinary names of natives with those on the ro'l—each natives has generally two or more names—is considerable, but the restrictions of section 8 requiring consent of the Native Minister to proceed against the land all'cetod, together with the limitation of the liability of individual native owners or occupiers, practically prohibits any possibility of recovery. In my opinion 'The Native Land Act, 1004/ is practically unworkable iu Taranaki, and the only way that 1 can suggest in order to enable local authorities to collect native rates is that the Act be repealed and replaced by another Act based on the following proposals, which f understand havo already been placed before the Acting-Premier and yourself: (1) That the Public Trustee, as the statutory owner of the lands vested in him under the 'West Coast; Settlements Act. 1802,' and also in respect of all other native lands vested in or administered by him, should be primarily liable as owner and occupier for the payment of all general and special rates levied on such lands. (2) That in respect of all other native lands liable to the payment of such rates, the Native Minister shall be primarily liable for the same. The local authority concerned would consequently only look to the Public Trustee, or to the Native Minister, as the ease might be, for payment of rates. '1 he Public Tnistee would he liable to make his native occupiers as a condition of their license holdings, repay such rates to him, while the Native Minister would have power given to him to re- j coup himself for all payments by making j the same charge on the lands and in default for a certain period, to sell'or lease the same. An additional charge of, say, ten per cent of the amount thereof (analagous to section 150 •Rating Act, 1801') might reasonably be added to the amounts to be repaid by the natives to the Public Trustee or the Native Minister. , . . Under the present conditions the local authorities incur a serious loss of annual revenue." Mr Jack, Reserves Agent, conferred with Mr Roy concerning this letter. Mr .lack, while admitting the disadvantages under which local bodies were placed by the Act, was not favorable to the suggestions of Mr Roy. He proposed that the Act be amended, particularly in the direction of providing that in respect of West Coast Settlement Reserves, as well as other native lands administered by the Public Trustee, the native occu- • piern should remain primarily liable for the payment of rates to the extent spccilied by the Act of 11)04, but that if after 12 months any rate remained unpaid, then the Public Trustee could pay the same out of any funds held by him for the natives iu default, This was, wrote Mr. Roy to the Clifton County ! Council on Friday, a material improvement on section 2of the Act. Witlt re- ! gard to rates on "scrip" land owned by natives, and not administered by the Public trustee, Mr ,!aek considered that the European occupier in many cases should lie sued, lie also considered that Ihe Valuation Department should take tar more care in ascertaining the names Ji native owners and occupiers, and that to secure ellieient rolls the Department dioiild co-opearte with the local body interested in preparing the rolls. c The chairman said that Mr Jack took (, -liw hjuuo viow as the, county xloWnti's i iad taken. 1| ( . himself disagreed "with tfr Rov'.s proposal to make the Native f, Minister primarily responsible, and for f his reason—he believed that the natives ii • hoiild have'voles if they contributed to l he county revenue. Under this round- ,i ' "Ut system suggested the native own- j ■rs would have no vote. ft was his in- ..i enlion to push this matter at the „ '.unities Conference. This seemed an L ipporlune. time, too, in which to press v , or improvement. Mr Jack admitted ~l he necessity for amendment, and sug- s j ested a coniniousense course of action? s |