WEST COAST LEASES.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 October 1920, Page 5

WEST COAST LEASES.

"INJUSTICE DONE TO NATIVES." GOVERNMENT, PROFIT, ALLEGED. t (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Oct. 15. The Native Affairs Committee reported to the House to-day on the petition of Tonga O'Carroll, of Hawera, regarding a block of land in the Waimate Survey District, Taranaki. The petitioner and others were the beneficial owners of SOU acres of land leased to E. R. Hastie. The lessee took steps to acquire the freehold and after negotiations the sale was effected. But the Government retained a portion of the purchase money, and the petitioners ask for relief. The committee had no recommendation to make.

Mr. S. G. Smith (Taranaki) moved that the report should be referred back to the committee for further consideration. He said that there had been a great deal of trafficking in connection with the West Coast leases. The land in question had been valued by the Government at £26 per acre. The average price of land in the vicinity of this section was not less than £6O per acre. He suggested that an injustice had been done to the natives. They had not received for their land the full market value or the full price that the Government had obtained. No portion of the money paid to the Government for the land should be lost to the natives. The figures p'iced before the committee showed that in this case the Government had made a profit of bver £1765 at the expense of the natives.

The Native Minister (Sir William Herries) said he had no objection to tha report being referred back, but probably the committee which was heavily loaded with work, would not be able to report again this session. It was stated that the purchaser of the land had offered the natives a better price than they actual-, ly received. The Department knew nothing about that. The law required the Department to obtain a special valuation whenever a sale of native land was proposed. This rule had been laid down for the protection of the Ha believed that tha valuation in thfe present case had been a fair one. The natives had not been obliged to 5e11... They did sell and the Native Department) which had bought in accordance with the law, had banded the land over to the Lands Department. The rul? was that the Lands Department, in Celling the land to the tenant, should charge 2i per cent for expenses. The natives mentioned in the petition had received the full amount of the official valuation. The Lands Department had charged the purchaser 2J per cent on that price. Mr. Smith: And £I4OO more. Mr. Statham (Dunedin Central) agreed that the report should be referred back. The Government had kept, within the four corners of the law, but a serious injustice had been done to the natives. The Government had been in the position of trustee for the natives, and a trustee was not entitled to make a profit out of the trust. The Government had paid the native owners £12,045 for the land and had sold it to the white tenant (Mr. Hastie) for £13,810, The figures had not been disputed before the committee and the two negotiations had proceeded at the same time. It was not a case of land having been held for some time. Sir Wo. Herries: The Native Department only buys the land from the natives. We hand the land to the Lands . Department, which sells it to the tenapt. Mr. Statham: I don't eare how it was done. The fact is that the Crown, as trustee, has made a profit out of the transaction. A difference of £1765 has been retained by the Crown. The Minister said he lfad tfot received these figures, In any case there had been no injustice to tho natives, who had received the amount of the official valuation. There might have been an injustice to Hastie.

Air. Veiteh (Wanganui) remarked that the Lands Department had made a profit of £1464 on the land over and above the ordinary commission. The -Minister: That is nothing to do with the ■'natives.

Mr. Smith's motion to refer the report back to the committee was earned.