PARLIAMENT. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. MONDAY. The Native Lands Disposition Bill

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2040, 4 August 1885, Page 2

PARLIAMENT. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. MONDAY. The Native Lands Disposition Bill

Tiih House in >t .it 7.30 p.m. Mi Hill nice moved tin- second leading i>f the Native L.mds Disposition Hill. He sud the bill was brought dovv n to prevent Native l.mds falling into the hand* of speculators, iind al>o to provide foi the settlement of the 1 uid. JJm ing tlu- lecess he took the opportunity of visiting most of tho Nttive people in the North Island, and lip found a general opinion expiessed by the chiefs and the leading pc iple in favoui of tin 1 piop»s.iK Ho was .iwaie that sine tint tune some of the chiefs kid oxpiessed opinions adverse to tin 1 pi osent bill, but h" considered it was appioved of by the m i]'>iitv of the Natives in theNoit'i Ishnd The ni.iin ]junci[)l(M)f th -bill wa,,toae jniie tlio n.itive lands and t • see tint thu> weie piopmly settled. Tlie bill brought' im by the member for Waitotaia, in 1882 pimided that the inability of ovvneis should b" able to deal with their la.rl, and theio was m icality veiy little diffeieiee between that proposal and the piuieut propo«ul It had lieen admitted by the member fin W.uto tni, i that gross abuses had existed with res-|»ect to nitne I md-. It behoved the House to consider th.it something 1 shoald bo done to piopeily administer the land for the benefit of the natives. Ho was not prepaied to say th.it the purchaser of native l.md got all the benefit fiom them, but it was very ccitain the natives do not benefit by it. A laige portion had gone into the pockets of middle men, law yeis, interpreters and otbeis. He quoted from the (Tovemoi'-, Speech in IST') to show that a simil ir measure was brought in that session by the member for Waitotara. His own opinion was that taking the native-) oft the land and giving compensation w mid not be satisfactory to the natives, but they should give the natives power to dispose of their land, when it would be found that a lii£o quantity of it would be offeied for settlement. He contended that the bill violated no native lights, and it otfeied the natives better terms by placing land in the open niaiket for public competition, The bill was intended to benefit the meat miss of thu public of the colony. Theio hid been much hostile cnticisin on the bill, but ha had never s >.->n its punciplei attacked. It had b'en said th >t the pioper way to de d with tho native l.mds iv. is to josomc ,\ poition for the natives and then have fie 1 trade for the leni'imder, but he contende 1 that that would not effect the object in view foi the settlement of the lind. The commit*' v sjstein was the main feature of the bill as far as the machine,! y was cincei ned, but » whilst it gave the committees large powers it also cont imed imp n tint checks if the committee-) did not piopeily pefoim their functions. The bill pi ov ided that the lands should b'3 s(,ld under the waste land law of the colony. He slid he had been perfectly besieged by applications to haveiestuetion-, lemoved, but he was determined to take no iction in this respect till the House lia-. i decided on some better system of adnnnisteiing the land than at piesent. He was not piepaiod to say that the bill was eutnely peifect, but ho felt coi tain it would come out of co'iimitti'i* .i Useful niMsino. Mi Omiond t;i\c Ball nice eiedit for his sincenty m his dtMie to establish the s"ttleinont of the counti y, but he thought the Huns' expected a 'nore convincing speech fiom his own point of view than they lud heud. Ho held entirely different views on the question of Native Linds, Ho thought the Ho,is> and the country would M'oognivlliat th" ni" nb 'i for Waitot u i had bi might ab nit the lcsiilt tint the uitivcs rospfcted the law and that the I >'ieen s v nt was allovverl to inn tlnoughont tiio colon\ He thought no Native Mmistei hid owm entered ottic nndei b«tt"i uispui'-, than the pio-Mit Native Mmistei. I 1;I 1 ; was nndei stood, last year, that (loveinment should acquiie 1 md <ilong tl c line for tho li link liik> of lailvvay, but he failed to see .'nything had been done in that direction. He found that the Native Minister had given the natives ginrantee that their lauds should not be subject to taxation by the pie^ent or by any other (4oveuimcnt. He considered that an altogethei unc institutional act It w.is tiiiu the House should coiisidei whether native lands should not be subject to taxation the s line as Kuropoin. Tlieie Hiii alieady a law in the statute book giving p >w ji t) c >in'iiittecs, but it was found that nittves Ind taken very little advantage of it. The committee system wis altogethei absind. He would ask whether the House would like to see 12,000,000 aeiesof 1 md m the colony tied up under Mion 1 indloidism. He contended th.it the Xitive Minist'ii was doing eveiything in his p nver to stop thr acquisition of land along tin 1 Nmth Island Tmnk Line of i.uhvay, .md Ins action in this respect would load to giievous disappointment. Ii the bill came into law it would stop all alienation of hurl and check the progiessof the North Island. Them was n> necessity^ whatevei for the bill. Mi Stout said th 1 speech of the nieuibjr for Napier altogether travelled outside the piescntbill. Ho defended the hysU'iu of committees And Mid it n.i> an e\tnordinaiy admission for the in 'mb'rs forNipior to .ulvocite their abolition, e-.p>onlly as the lion gentleman wis siv h a stiong adv oc ite for local gov ci nment. [Left Sitting.]