THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 1908. MAORI LAND PURCHASES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9179, 31 August 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 1908. MAORI LAND PURCHASES.

In all the provinces of the North Island, land settlement seems to be proceeding at some pace, i save in the case of the Wellington province, which so far as closer settlement is concerned, does not seriously attract the attention of the Government. Nearly all the land in the Wellington pro vince has bee" "taken up,'' oris leased from Maori owners, and knowing that such is the case' the Government apparently have decided to leave matters as +hey are. The development of the Wairarnpa unquestionably depands upon closer settlement and more intense cultivation of the land, but it must be admitted that any hope of progress along the only possible line that presents itself «t prc3ent is very faint indeed. The report of the Under-Secretary for Lands upon Maori land purchase operations, which has recently come to hand, is interesting, although it does not disclose any phenomenal efforts on the part of the Government in the matter of acquiring Native lands. The report conveys the information that the total area of the actually completed purchases, since the Maori Land Settlement Act, 1905,

came into operation, is 263,001 acres. Purchases were made in several provinces of the North Island to the following extent:—Auckland, 121,776 acres; Taranaki, 127,821 acres; Hawke's Bay, 13,294 acres; Wellington, 109 acre 3. The prices paid in the Auckland Land District ranged from live shillings and sixpence to £2 an acre, or an average for the whole of abouc 19s lOd per acre. This, the Under-Secretary considers, is a very fair average, in view of the scattered natare of the purchased areas, and the extraordinary variety of the soils and general capabilities from a settlement point of view. In the Taranaki Land District the average price paid range.! from 7s to £1 per acre, the average being 8s 9d per acre. As a good deal of the area purchased was only medium land the average price is regarded as being a very fair one. In the Hawke's Bay district the price paid ranged from £5 to £7 per acre, the average being £6 12s per acre. The land purchased was of first-class quality and all of it fit for immediate settlement. In the Wellington district an area of 109 acres was acquired and the price paid was £1 5s per acre. It is stated by way of explanation of what has been done, or rather of what has not been done, in the Wellington district, that "only one small area has been purchased owing to the difficulties surrounding acquisition," but the report is silent as to what those difficulties are. This is a point upon which Mr Hogg, M.P., might illumine the electors when he next delivers an''address in this district.