THE MAORIS AND THE NEW ZEALAND LAND QUESTION.
Two important meetings were held at the latter end of the session in the conference room of the House of Commons, at which many prominent members of Parliament and others were present, to take into consideration a scheme for the arrest of the decay of the native race in New Zealand and tor the establishment of permanent peace between the native and European races. The effort >v as suggested by the presence in this country of the three New Zealand chiefs, who will shortly ieturn to their native land, and by whose hand it is proposed to send a letter to the chiefs in New Zealand, suggesting tlie scheme for their consideration and recommending it for their adoption. The need for some such scheme is said to exist in the fact that, contrary to the policy of the chiefs, the native lands are being rapidly alienated, and the proceeds squandered without any permanent provision for the future maintenance of the race, except in some cases by certain inalienable reserves, and it is anticipated, if this system continues unchecked, the race will before long be thoroughly pauperized and degraded, and rapidly disappear. It is proposed, by means of an agency or association to be originated in this country, to which all the waste lands may be transferred for the purpose of opening up, colonization, and sale, to invest, by way of sinking fund, the prime value or first cost of the land, as it is gradually sold at enhanced values to settlers, in permanent inalienable annuities, to be granted by the Government of New Zealand, in favour of the individual owners of the , land and their heirs, as long aa they may have any, and the shareholders in ; the < association to' shave the -native owners in- ' any* further profit or} Umprdved yalile of the laud. The quantity of land' ; proposed to
be dealt with in this plan in l(J,000,000 acres, the prime value 8a per acre, the enhanced value 40s per acre ; and, on the assumption that 200,000 acres would be sold annually, it is estimated that within a Minimum of 13 years or a maximum of 16 years, all the present owners of the waste lands of the colony will have entered into the enjoyment of the interest on the capital value of their lands, or £4,000,000 and there will be still left on hand a fund in land for subsequent sale and subdivision of about £14,000,000. The chiefs at present in this country are said to strongly advocate the plan, The movement has teceived the approval and snppoi fc of the Eail of Shaftesbury, the Bishops of London, Liverpool, and St. Asaph, Sir Pen rose G. Julyan, X C.M. Gr., the Deans of Canterbury and Peterborough, Canon Lidilon, the Right Hon. A. J. Mundella, M. P., My. Alderman Fowler, M. P., Mr. Alderman M 'Arthur M. P., Mr Alexander M' Arthur, M. P., and several othei influential gentlemen. — The Times, Sept. o.
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Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1605, 17 October 1882, Page 2
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501THE MAORIS AND THE NEW ZEALAND LAND QUESTION. Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1605, 17 October 1882, Page 2
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