The Daily news THURSDAY, JULY 29. OUR IDLE LAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 158, 29 July 1909, Page 2

The Daily news THURSDAY, JULY 29. OUR IDLE LAND.

The Acting-Premier, the Hon. J nines Carroll, i 9 realising at last that the insistent demands, of settlement cannot for mucii longer be disregarded with respect to the millions of acres of unutilised native lands in this Island, 'lhe realisation lias roused hiui to make an appeal 011 .behalf of the remnant of his race, and for his spirited defence of the .Maori's right to his Jand everyone .will give him credit, whether or ! not views coincide. The mere fact that Air. Carroll has been galvanised into life through tlie native land agitation nH'ords much satisfaction, and shows that Mr. Carroll, the "Taihoa" Native Minister, and Mr. Carroll, the ActingPremier of New Zealand; are widely dissimilar personalities, in his present role there is some reason for the belief that something may soon be done to indicate the means the (Jovcrnment will

udopt to brin«r the six millions of acres of native lands, by far the greater portion of which is totally unproductive, into cultivation. iMr. Carroll's fear evidently is that the ultimate end of the native laud agitation will be the loss of his laud by the .Maori, and his ultimate impoverishment. To our mind his fear is groundless, for while it cannot be denied that there are not wanting those whose wish is that speculation in native land should be facilitated,

public opinion may be safely relied upon to see that no proposal with regard to I the settlement of the native land question that is not perfectly just to the native owners will lie tolerated. The. country is prepared to treat with the Maori exactly as it would, and did, with a pakeha Jandjlordisjin that impeded settlement and the utilisation oi the land in the best interests of the Dominion. And the time has arrived when the producing capacity of the Dominion is being retarded by the no,v uultivation of .millions of acres of native Innrl in tins Island Tlmt fanf 11-1

disputed. It is with the means to be adopted to remove this embargo 011 the Dominion's progress that opinions differ, resulting in the shelving of a comprehensive policy of solution. On this point we have no sympathy with those whose principal argument against Maori ownership is an endeavor to raise a color-lino prejudice against what they choose to dub "a native landed aristocracy." Hysterical argument of this sort will certainly not tend to au honorable solution of whit is undoubtedly ft big problem. Th 1 failure of those who could and should have given the iead in the 111 alter of insisting on tlio Maori living a life of usefulness is largely responsible for the present unsatisfactory condition of affairs. 1 Whatever might be said in favor of our treatment of the Maori, it cannot honestly be said that any comprehensive attempt has j ever been made to make of him a useful ! industrious citizen. The comparative ! incapacity of the Maori as a whole to i take his place in competition with the pakeha is only what must be expected. The Maori of to-day is? t'- • product of cur indifference to his ma.orial welfare. • He has not, as a race, been taught, under his new conditions of living, the value of work and the necessity of cultivating his land if he is to prosper. Hie parasitical existence is the result of three or four generations of State acquiescence in his indolence —an indolence originally induced not from choice, for the history of his ancestry is one of strenuous endeavor, but from the want of a policy that would have , educated him in the things that make the pakeha successful. Had the Maori of an earlier generation been compelled to utilise his land, means afforded him or doing so, facilities given the young men for learning the arts of husbandry with which the pakeha was already equipped, much of the -present native land problem would have ere now been automatically solved. We are not apologists for the degeneracy of mueli of the native character, but we are not blind to the fact that hundreds oi Maoris in this Island, particularly on the other coast, where't hey have'beeii Riven opportunities to show'their wortl: is farmers, have shown what the native 1* capable of accomplishing under favor »[>:e conditions. He is not unappreci. ritive of the value of monev earned bv Ins own effort. and Has shinvn himsell Kce„ ,11 advancing his interests as the best pakeha farmer. Our contention is therefore, that had the value of relvin« on hi* own individual effort for his'suenance and material advancement been nought home Civ the native as a race instead of spasmodically. ,i m i i„ isolated instants a very considerable area ol that Hindi is to-day unproductive native and would he under cultivation bv thousands of native farmers. And from Ihp A ' h :, ml 1? '° I,e ""'"I'M '>V tlie llaon or the European; the niiealion js that the land must be put into cultivation. The Maori has not been encouraged to use his land; it J, t k n to tell „ very few of th£,, whit lands hev may have for their individual li-ioi-i I ,n ""mediately the in ~ i f- 11 1 ' l,w,Mlt, ' l . v individualised M l i' 1 r *' , ',' |Uilll - v witl ' EuropeanI'l l ami for all rates and taxes a so!villi' " t h Va T I 1 hllVl ' iHT " " lill!e 111 .ohm the land problem, as well a< th-n' 1 m' n •° f l ]'" , f " Urc ' ~f tlu ' ilaori. sm'me t i '"S Htlierto attempted or „o e »tul. l.oughly s,peal;iii'', there arc of Til iv T"! J ! aoliS> Wl,ffi th " ™ acres' Ju ''.'"ln- f head of a family is entitled Vo'a« much cere ted ''l i" 'l'"''' 1,0 is trilwl| v '>»- " !"! I'f desires to use will.in tlu- lijcitatiuu clauses of tile Ln:ul .\ f . t he I! r'v V . Jla " H; " 0 "° m«»t S • • ,V flrst dul y °f «le rrolilen, at ' l -"lulion of the 2" KIT" fai,ii| v .1 if. 1 "" n,al| e-'iahle area „f of hem" for S»rt «hi 1 \i ~e e maximum area to have II •"i"" l,t l,e °" lUk,<l sl '0"ld l!f tl ' l'.',n V l' I s g M" U,(I - Tlle inken In- rt ? i'"' ' llll,l ediateiy 1 -. e fctilte and thrown open ov ."o-rr-.n"!' K r |,e,,n 1I n ' ? - l0 ( 'evoted to a«i s tin" Cti 'l od " 3 ° f U '- auuii.i, ic | 1(1 must mevitabiv become nX' V 'Tr i'i th " i " ,l0l ™ t n'mSlat .ti." < ' ll|,,l ;f- r| ' upon the

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