TARANAKI NATIVE RESERVES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2657, 12 November 1909, Page 5

TARANAKI NATIVE RESERVES.

DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER

ri’lCll T’uf.sr Association.'! WELLINGTON, Nov. 11. The members of the Maori deputation which' waited on the Hon. J. Carroll on Monday with a request that the control of the West Coast (Taranaki) reserves should be taken out of the hands of the Public Trustee and. handed over to the Natives interested, interviewed Sir Joseph Ward to-day. Dr. Buck introduced the deputation, and said that they were (present to represent the principal tribes of Taranaki, and were desirous of becoming citizens n the true sense of the void, and wished to cultivate! their own lands. , ~ , , Sir Joseph Ward said he was famiL iar with the troubles of the past, and knew what the desires of the deputa-tion-were. Their request would receive the best attention of the Government. He was convinced that the Maoris, in working their lands, were taking a course which won Id bo ill the interests of their families. Times had changed, Te Whiti and Toliu had passed away. The Government would do what it could with the balance of Native lands loft in order to help the Maoris. Had it not been lor the control of the West Coast lands by the Public Trustee, he was afraid many areas would have been sold, and that numbers of Native people would have become impoverished. He urged the Maoris to go in for industry. ;