WEST COAST LEASES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 201, 22 February 1912, Page 7

WEST COAST LEASES.

' As was reported 1 on Saturday, Mr. i Okey, member for Taranaki, is moving on behalf of a number of West Coast settlement reserve lessees who desire to • have the conditions under which their . leases are held amended. The tenants in question took up areas of native land in Taranaki under an Act of 1882, which fixed the term of the leases at 30 years, and gave no right of renewal. In 1892 ! an Act was passed under which land similarly placed was leased on the 30 years' tenancy, with perpetual right of renewal. The later Act gave tenants under the Act of 1882 the right to come within the scope of the provisions relating to renewal, provided they made application within 12 months from the date at which the Act of 1892 was passed. Many of the 1882 tenants failed to make application, because, it is stated, they did not understand the amended condiions. Their leases are now about to expire And they desire: to be placed on the same footing as other tenants in regard to renewal. Sir Jas. Carroll pro- , mised last year to set up a commission to inquire into the matter, and Mr. Okey, is pressing for an immediate fulfilment; of the promise. The number of tenants on the West Coast settlement reserve lands under the Act of 1882 is about 132, and they hold in the aggregate sonic 18,000 acres. A much larger area ot the reserve lands is leased subject to a perpetual right of renewal.—The Dominion.