LOCKING UP THE LAND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2615, 24 September 1909, Page 2

LOCKING UP THE LAND.

THE NORTHERN LEAGUE. A VIGOROUS MANIFESTO. The object (says the “New Zealand Herald”)’of tire Land League formed at Kohukoliu last week is as follows: To promote the speedy opening up for settlement of all Government lands; to use every endeavor to defeat a policy under which, the native lands are locked up, and are enormously enhanced in value without the help of the owners, by the expenditure of public money on roads and' railway; to use every effort to cause the Government to take over, as from January 1, 1910, all unimproved and occupied native lands, and treat the same as Crown lands, using the revenue from such lands in the interest of the native race, in such manner as to be equitable to both the European and Maori. The League has decided to circulate throughout the Dominion a manifesto setting out that: —' 1. The conditions under which natives hold their lands are utterly 'Unsatisfactory, because (a) they cannot sell, (b) they cannot lease except under difficult restrictions, (c) they cannot themselves effectively occupy their own lands, because theyl are held in common.

2. The quantity 1 of land held as waste country by the natives in the north is out of all .proportion to their requirements. 3. Rates are not collectable on tins great area of native land, the value ol which is being enhanced by the expenditure of rates paid; by European occupiers and by subsidies and grants bv the State. ' 4. The native owners of lands, under a oolicy which crushes out all hope of developing the country by the Europeans, are themselves brought to begS Tliis native land policy has been continuous in its effects for 20 years, has lowered the character of the native, has distinctly prevented progress in the districts affected, and is a cause of unemployment. 6. The native land laws, special and general, a're so numerous that no one can understand them. L 7. When hush lands are taken over by the Maori Land Councils for administration, they are offered to the public on terms which a capitalist only could successfully comply with, which are unduly favorable to the native ow u ner, and in some cases—e.g., the Karae Block in Hokianga—the land is valued at nearly 300 per cent, more than the Crown lands of the same quality in the same block. 8. Native owners of lands cannot be compelled to fence to keop down noxious weeds or to pay rates. 9. The country wherever there is much native Jana is at a standstill, the natives are ruined, and the Europeans are prevented from developing the resources of the country. Reform is therefore urgently needed, and we believe that the.only effective reform, is to be found in the Government taking over the whole of the unoccupied na>tive land and treating the same as Crown land, using the revenue from such land in the interest of the native race, in such manner as to be equitable to both the European and Maori.