THE MOKAU LAND DEAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 136, 30 November 1911, Page 7

THE MOKAU LAND DEAL.

ANOTHER PHASE. I STATEMENT BY MR OKEY. J At Fitzroy on Tuesday night Mr 11. I Okey, Opposition candidate for the Taranaki electorate, after relating some of tho circumstances concerning Mr. Jonesdealings with the estate, stated that in the course of a very exhaustive inquiry held by a special committee of the House of Representatives, Mr Massey attempted: to show that the. Government had most improperly issued ail Order-in-Coun-cil which enabled a private speculator to acquire the freehold of some 53,000 acres of Native Land, -which he immediately afterwards sold at a very large profit. The report of the committee, which consisted of twelve members, of whom nine were Government supporters and only three Oppositionists, refuted the charge of impropriety and found that what was done was in the interests of settlement. He (Mr Okey) thought it proper at this juncture to direct attention to a feature of this transaction which has received only passing notice, and the details «f which are only now available from the publication of the evidence, exhibits, and report of the special Native Affairs Committee. It is certainly not generally known that the block purchased, first by Mr Hermann by virtue of the Order-in-1 Council, and now owned by the Mokam Coal and Estates Company, of which Mr McNab is chairman, includes in its freehold title, under the Land Transfer Act,! areas amounting to- over 5000 acres which but a short time, ago were Crown hinds, the property of the Dominion. Thr history of these lands is to be found iithe exhibits attached to the committee's report, and the cold- hard facts speak for themselves. A good many years ago certain surveys were made on the Mo-kau-Mohakatino Block, and as their cost was not forthcoming, 'liens were obtained by the Commissioner of Crown Lands, acting under instructions from the Sur-veyor-General, and' charging orders were granted by the Native Land Court to cover surveys amounting altogether to £llO2 Is 3d, carrying interest at 5 per cent, for a term not exceeding five years. The lands set apart as security for these sums were separate areas known as No. IF, Section 1,2410 acres; No. IJ, Section 1, 667 acres; No. Iff, Section 1,1676 acres; and No. IG, Section 1, 268 acres—a total of 5021 acres, of which 4753 are at two points on the southern boundary of the block, with frontage to the Mohakatino Stream, and- 288 acres on the Mokau Raver somewhat higher up than the coal mines. In an official plan (marked "Exhibit No. 73," furnished by the Survey Department and attached to the report of the committee, these areas are shown as "Crown lands awarded by Native Land Court for survey liens, but not yet proclaimed." These lands were but a few months ago the property of the Dominion (Crown lands), which only had to be proclaimed in order to make them available for settlement; yet to-day they are included in the freehold title held by Mr M'Xab's company, to whom they have been sold by the Government privately and -without affording to the settlers of this Dominion any opportunity of competing for their ownership. In a report dated Wellington, August 24, 1911, after the Committee of Inquiry had been set up, Mr W. H. Skinner, then Chief Draughtsman for Thranaki, referred to these lands in these- words: 'This sum excludes valuation over those parts of the block cut off by Native Land Court to satisfy Crown Sand liens, but which it has linen djeeided to hand over to flic syndicate on the understanding, that they pay the survey liens, at 18s 9d per acre, from which wou'd have to be deducted cost of survey and roading, which he estimated at 8s per acre, leaving a net vaJue of 10b !)d per awe, which would give a value of £2698 for the 5021 acres, assuming that these areas are of no greater value than the average of J the whole block.

He (Mr Okey) had reason to believe however, that the areas in question are worth not loss than 30s per acre, which would give a value 0f£7031; and it is more than probable tlrat these lands, if placed on the public market, would liavc realised at any rate £2 per acre, or. say, £10,042. On September 0 the Chief Accountant of the Lands Department, reported to the Under-Secretary of Crown Lands* that Messrs. Findlay, Da'lziell and Co. had deposited £14(10 Bs< .'ld on August 1(5, in the Receiver-General's deposit account, pending final decision in the matter; this being the amount of the liens with interest for five years in terms of the Act. This sum is to os lOd per acre for the 5021 acres; and at this price these Crown lands have been handed over to the Mokati Coal and Estates Co., Ltd. (R. M'Xab, Estj., chairman), instead 'of placing them on the open market for the benefit of the Dominion.

When Parliament rose at the beginning of this month, these lands were still the lands of the Crown, but on the 20th of this month the liens on the title were cancelled and they became the freehold of the company. An attempt will doubtless be made to show that these lands were subject to Mr. Jones' lease, and therefore not available for settlement; but the real position was that the Crown had the 'freehold (as shown by their own plan), and could at any time have made the land available for public sale. Instead of that, the Government has sold outright to private people, and without public competition, at a price of 5s lOd per acre, lands which would have been readily purchased by the people of Mew i Zealand at not less than 30s per acre.