The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. THURSDAY, FEB. 18, 1892.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3057, 18 February 1892, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. THURSDAY, FEB. 18, 1892.

When writing sortiß little time bad on the question of the best meai.s o dealing with the lands still in tin hands of the natives, the Parlia mentary return mads on the inotioi of Mr T. K. McDonald, late mem bnr for Wellington, was not befon us. The figures embraced in it an interesting and call for considera tion. We find that 2,777,209 acrei have not yet been passed througl the Court and cannot therefore b< dealt with by Europeans as no title either lease or freehold, can b< granted by the owners. Of thesi lands 82,576 acres are returned ai being used for agricultural or pas torai purposes. This total is madi up as follows : —Auckland .District 48,362; Hawkes Bay, 32,714 Wellington, 1500. This leaves s balance of 2,694,633 acres lyinj idle and unproductive. The retun does not specify the quality of thi land unutilized, but no doubt a verj large area of it consists of land o: poor quality either from the quality oi the soil itself or from the broker nature of the coun try. The remainder however, includes some of the bes: land in the North Island, in ever] respect suited for agricultural Oi pastoral purposes. We find that 2,442,469 acres have passed through ;he Court and are leased to Europeans. The Maori interests in these leases is valued by the Property-tax issessors at £1,979,357, and the essees' interest at £473,559. We ind that in addition to the land :lassed under the above two headi ;hat the natives hold 5,629,808 acre! which have passed the Court )f this only 730,934 acres are utiiscd in any way, leaving a balance >f 4,898,874 acres lying idle. The Property-tax valuation of this land i £1,867,840. The summary ir he return gives 8,412,977 acres as jelonging to the natives and noi eased to Europeans, of which onlj 513,570 are utilised. We thus iave a total of 7,597,407 acres iwaiting the plough of the husband nan, or the hoofs of countless docki md herds. The question which Parliament has to solve is as to tin itepa which should be adopted to it as early a date as possible, turr :he above enormous area of idle and into a source of wealth, having it the same time a due regard foi ,he right of the Maoris to deal wit! heir land as they may desire— i ■ight which has been conceded t( ;hem by treaty and proclamation Dn the other hand it is claimec ;hat it is equitable that they as the >riginal holders should directly >ear a proportion of the cost of the >üblic works which have so enor nously enhanced the value of theii and, or given it any value at all Ln order to arrive at this end nunie •ous Native Land Acts have beer massed. Costly administrative ma shinery has been put in motion ir >rder to settle titles and vesl ,he rights of tribes in representative ucn, with power to deal with triba and for the benefit of all conjerned. At one time Governmen ias claimed the sole right of pur:hase, at auother what is terrnec ! ree trade in native land has prevailed. Hansard records the lach ■ymose speeches which "were lelivered by the kte Sir Donalc VlcLean as" to the iniquities thai ;vere perpetrated under this system it the present time the Govern nent claims the preemptive righi >f purchasing such blocks as the] nay think fit to gazette, at lh< jrice they may fix. With the ides if course of disposing to Eurojeans of the land so acquiredat i argely increased prise. This hai iad the effect of causing thi lativea to combine to reiuse t< mrt with any land at all. In orde: o coerce them into submission :overfc threats have been made ty tfr Oadman to put a tax upoi heir lands. The figures wo have [uoted above piov6 conclusively hat to do so and continue the irocess long enough would mean ionfiscadon. Land which produces lothing cannot pay taxes, except >y the application of funds othervise acquired; of these the natives iavo none. We are distinctly of ipinion that the proper course to jursue is to allow the natives absolute freedom to deal with their

lands. Iu the first place every semblance of breaking faith with them will be thus removed, and in the second, that short of forcible confiscation, which of course is impossible, it will, be the most speedy way of bringing their lands into the position of adding to the material prosperity of the country. The temptation to Ministries to maintain the sole right o£ purchase is <»reat, as the difference between the buying and selling prices would pass into the Treasury in a lump sum and provide the means of purchasing political support. Admitting the argument that the natives should uot b& ft/lowed to scoop the whole pool consequent on Public Works Expenditure, we point out that they would not do so under the free system as thoae who purchased from them in calculating the price they could afford to pay would take into consideration the tax they

would l>o lialilf! to on the value so enhnncofl. Another fact which mills' not hi-, lost sight of is that the whole of the purchase money would remain nnd l>e expended in the colony. The. time had past when philanthropy demands that the nntives should in commercial matters lie protected against themselves, they are quite as good at a bargain as any average European. Ot course they must not in the interests of tlin commonwealth be allowed to denude, themselves entirely of their land otherwise the day might come when they would have to he fed and clothed at the public expense.