NATIVE LANDS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2566, 29 July 1909, Page 7

NATIVE LANDS.

[To the Editor.] Sir,—Having followed with interest the letters and articles that ha,ve reccntlv appeared in your journal -with regard to this important question I shall be glad of a little space to place a few facts before your readers. First, as to the defence of the Government policy made by Mr. Ngata, in which he’ states that s r o many thousand acres of Native land are paying rates. The great bulk of these lands are leased to Europeans, and, of course, the tenants pay the rates and very likely a land tax as well, but these are lands which are considered settled and not the subject of the present discussion. To drag in these lands is simply to draw a red herring across the scent. Of course, a few properties—the show places—pay rates, but even then are often so slow in doing so that the county loses the subsidy. But after all is said what can alter the fact that more than half the "YVaiapu county is in the hands of the Natives, and yet, last year, the Europeans paid £6736 in rates, while the Maori only paid £407. The County Council spent over £ISOO in works for the benefit of th© Matakaoa riding and that riding contributed the munificent sum of five shillings in Native rates. Now this has gone on for years ; hundreds, or, if you like, thousands have been spent in the northern part of the County, almost all of which comes from the industry of the Euroneans, and the entire unearned increment goes to the Maoris. A few years ago the land north of the Waiapu River would not be worth 10s an acrej now it is worth 30s, and this increase of value has been brought about by the opening up of the County and the roads and tracks made by Europeans, while the whole of the increase, except in a few small cases of freehold, goes to the Maoris, who, all this time, have done practically nothing. In other words a 'value of nearly, or perhaps quite, a quarter of a million pounds has been created by the industry* of the Europeans and this belongs entirely to the Maoris. Is there any prospect of this ending? Not much! Mr. Ngata says that he had nothing to do with the retiring of Judge Sim. Mr. Carroll says that Mr. Ngata considers Judge Sim the most competent person possible. Then why was Judge Sim retired ? Why wasn’t he allowed to finish the work he was carrying on in such a satisfactory manner? Is the truth this —that if Judge Sim had completed the investigation the force of public opinion would compel the settlement of the country, and this was not desired by the present semi-Native Government ? Is it not a fact that for years back the whole course of Native legislation has been designed with a jV Machiavelian ingenuity to prevent settlement — an ingenuity of so highly a character that it has deceived. and no doubt will continue to deceive, the majority of the public. And so successful has this been, so cunningly have all Native lands been entailed, that a piece of land for a freezing works at Tolcomaru could not be obtained from the Maoris without special legislation—at least Mr. Ngat’a was understood to make a'statement to that effect a short time ago, at Gisborne. ‘For it is quite the truui that under th©

guise of Papakainga, or other equally intelligible term, almost the whole> of the Native land in New Zealand lias been quietly, but practically entailed on the Native owners. If there was any proposal to allow pakeha lands to be eri- , tailed; good gracious! Just fancy the ’ terrible shock to the free-born elector, just fancy his look of scornful indignation ; but the Native land, oh no 1 And of course they don’t call it entail in the case of Native land—they call it Papakainga. I could say a lot more about the above, but this must suffice for the present. But let mo riot forget the Commissioner’s recommendation for general settlement, half to be leased, half, to be sold, but the Mauris to have the first pick, whereby they would select all the frontages and good spots and leave tho hill-tops for the white man. That is general settlement ! Kapai to hiwi mo te pakeha. And even then the pakeha must go to the Board and the Board must,see that not only mus t the pakeha pay the highest possible rent, but he must pay in addition a sum to coyer the cost of collecting the same, So that his landlord may be ' put to no expense or trouble whatever. Incidentally the pakeha to get to his hill-tops must put his roads through the Maori reserves and thus tho Maori “wins easy” every time. Marvellous the trouble we take in New Zealand to protect the interests of the landlord'when the landlord happens to be a Maori, and we are oven careful that' every Maori shall be, and remain, a landholder, though no one apparently troubles to endow Jack Wright or Bill Jones with a quarter of an acre unless he can provide it for himself, and when he does no one worries to prevent his disposing of it, but we musn’t lot the Maori sell his birthright; he being such an innocent and guileless person that he might make a mistake and be cheated by some unscrupulous white man. —I am, etc. “PAKEHA.”