NATIVE LAND PURCHASE BY PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 146, 30 June 1883, Page 228

NATIVE LAND PURCHASE BY PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

It is admitted on all hands that the system of acquisition of native lands by the Government has been fraught with loss, corruption, and failure, jand has practically broken down. While the natives regard the Land Courts as countenancing and facilitating legalised plunder, the Europeans condemn them as fruitful of needless delays, and obstructions, aud inimical to fair ami above-board deaiingj-^ween the Maori landowners and legitimate puPJijasers whose o'nly^pro^ect of success is jjjound np';#ith ,^«a,^e:/flettienient. It is ad.

mitted on. all;sides too that the < time te'tipe ;for? sweeping away this old Juggernaut of Land Courts, and substituting some , simpler, more honest, and effective machinery. It is a standing disgrace to this enlightened Nineteenth Century that the Ql-overnraent of a colony which is already attracting the attention and admiration of the world by its liberal and progressive spirit, and which bids fair at ho distant period to Iplay an important part in the affairs of tho ; world, should descend to the ignoble position of, a petty land jobber, chaffering and Mafficking in land, and incurring all the ignominy and oduim of shady transactions/ " takoha," " ground bait," mm, debauchery, and chicanery.

•An Act now before Parliament is likely to achieve the desirable consummation of freeing the Government from this degrading position. It is entituled an Act to empower the New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company, Limited, to acquire and hold land from native owners in trust, and, as agents to deal with the same and for other purposes." This measure, while it inaugurates tho principle of direct fair and aboveboard dealings between Europeans and native owners, contains the amplest provisions and safe* guards for the protection of the Maori interests. Indeed it appears to be moulded with a view to their mutual benefit and advantage on the principle of cooperation, and partnership in profits. It also inaugurates, a system which is likely to give an enormous, if not incalculable, impetus to settlement and reproductive industry in the North Island, by providing any easy, amicable, and honest solution of the difficulties which have hitherto obstructed settlement. These principles and machinery once adopted by Parliament, nothing can impede that rapid career of progress, the first signs of which are apparent, that must ultimately place the North Island, and particularly the Auckland portion of it, in the premier position commercially, politically, and socially. We 9hall recur to this subject on a future occasion.

that distihguishe'dyf 6reii*n'er v/ho t^plc so ! afc^rfn^' yard HouseaastApril.-and He widfe^tljiia j !•'; '^ More trouble-in Newton. Have the wai;ch- : maker and -ironmonger jbeen trying to run. a double game /with. the. dressmakers ? . . ' One of our fcest— certainly best "looking officers — has resigned, from tlie. -Napier Volunteers • still • most admijo his spirit in having done so. '.*-'* We are glad, to hear that a marriage, is arranged between one of the-! little Missßisyof Newton, with Mr H. the spicy-looking bank clerk. ; .-; ' , Is it true that. Wj,,,b_f Upper' ,Bymonds-street', has forsaken the church and joined th f § Salvation Army ? Is the little widow still the attraction? ' Mr and Mrs Bassett(Miss Chadwickj fortunately escaped the customary tinrkettling on their, return to Aratapu. The, roads. wore too muddy for the larrikins. .. „,'•- ■.'.'■ ; When is .the happy event to. take' place between Miss E. D., of Napier-street, ,;and, the young widower, of Grey-street ? Has he forgotten his better half so soon ? ; . Who was the clerk in a wholesale warehouse who allowed a young lady to climb a four-rail , fence and sprain ber ankle ? John, old boy, you must not be so bashful. ■ Another suckling Demosthenes, of St. James' Mutual. Admiration Society, will. shortly .qualify himself to lecture on matrimony. A.S. and Miss B. are said to be the loving couple. We learn that J. E., of Prince Imperial fame, will shortly form himself , into an unliniited liability company, and that MisbT., of Auckland, will be one of the leading shareholders in the business. There is a collector in one of the Waikato churches, not a hundred miles from .Cambridge, who 3ports a ring engraved with Masonic emblems, but it is said that he is not a member of the craft. ' To give the— ahem— old. Clootie his due, the explanation of a paragraph in our last issue respecting unbanked funds in the possession of tho hotelkeoper who did the Pacifio Slope, is this : — He" was always engaged in promoting consultations;