NATIVE LANDS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 117, 7 November 1911, Page 5

NATIVE LANDS.

AND THE MORAU DEAL. ' ' Sir -'AiIES CARROLL EXPLAINS. By Telegraph—Press Aseoeiation. Levin, Last Night. Sir -Times Carroll addressed it.orfiwkd meeting at Levin, to-night. •« He dealt largely with native affairs. -and defended lids departmental administration. In 1891,■ when his Party toolc. office, Maori lnnifs Aggregated 10,829,48(1 aerea. Today it was down to 7,137,205 acres, and only 190,792 acres were without a title, though in 1892 there were two and a half millions untitled. In all, the Maori had parted with the freehold of four million acres, had leased three million, I and had aliout three million remaining. This included a lot of useless mountain tops and lake area-s, and there were forty thousand Maoris to use it. He favored transference to Europeans of the poorer native lands, and he admitted Europeans could work these better than the natives could. He believed the time i v " -■ now at hand when the natives could cuter the race at "weight for age," though in the past he had needed protection. In a lengthy summary of the position j regarding the Mokan, he fa-id the position to-dav was that the native owners (who used to get £20!) per annum for the leases) now had £25.000 purchase nioney, which was equal to £I2OO per annum."' As the leaseholds would have run for thirty years more the reversions would have been worth nothing to the present owners, ne was sure they all would see that the company which held the, land to-day was bound to throw it open for settlement within three years, and the Government had escaped a "treble set of lawsuits, which it would li/ive been liable to had it dealt directly with the block A vote of thanks to the speaker and confidence in the Government was car-, tied without dissent, _