Auckland Star on the Land Company.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 369, 26 October 1889, Page 2

Auckland Star on the Land Company.

A STB AB GE CONDITION OF THINGSWe very much fear that serious trouble is brewing in connection with the affairs of the Native Land Settlement Company on the East Coast. 'The circumstances connected with the formation of this Company are pretty well known in Auckland, but a brief recapitulation of the facts will assist our readers in understanding the present situation. In 1878 9, the natives on the East Coast were anxious to deal with their lands for the purpose of colonisation, desiring to join their properties in partnership with the Europeans’ skill and capital for the mutual benefit of all concerned. For this purpose, at great expense and with much trouble, they caused about 400,000 acres of native land to

be conveyed in trust to Wi Pere and Mr W. L. Bees. A doubt having arisen in the Native Lands Court as to the power of the natives under the Act of 1873 to convey their lands on trust for any purpose whatever, a case was stated for the opinion of the Supreme Court, and the Chief Justice decided that the natives had no power whatever to deal with their lands by way of conveyance, except to sell them. The costs incurred by the natives in a work thus rendered useless, amounted to upwards of £lO,OOO. Still determined to avail themselves of European co operation in labor and capital, the natives then, under the advice of Mr W. L. Rees, formed a joint stock company under the Limited Liability Acts, called the New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company, Limited. To this Company they sold their lands, receiving only a very small portion of the price agreed upon in cash, the remainder

of the purchase money being represented by fully paid-up shares of the Company—altogether less than 10 per cent, of the amount of the purchase money was paid in cash. This necessitated a very large expenditure. The native duty of 10 per cent, and the ordinary stamp duty of i pet cent, had to be paid on all these transactions, and these amounted in the aggregate to nearly £20,000. The fess of Court, the surveys (subdivisions! or otherwise) of the lands, amounted to about £lO.OOO more. The necessary expenses consequent upon the obtaining of severs! thousand Maori signatures, the expenses of natives attending the sittings of the Native Land Court in different parts of the country, and necessary legal expenses, amounted to upwards of £15,000, 8o that the land, by reason of the state of the law, the difficulty of dealing with native titles, and the exaction of such heavy duties and fees by the Government, became burdened with a debt of between £60,000 and £70,000 before its title was available for occupation or dealing. About 1883, Mr W. L. Rees was displaced from the active management, but the Company continued to carry on its operations, The estate was a very valuable one, but a ready market could not be found for it in the colony; and, meanwhile, interest,

charges and expenses were being heaped up incessantly. At length Wi Pere and Mr Rees proceeded to England for the purpose of inducing settlers to come out and take up the lands. They had received assurances of sympathy from many quarters, when an adverse tele, gram, sent by the Premier to Sir Dillon Bell, read in the House of Commons and published in the British press, effectually closed the doors of success against them for the time. The position, therefore, of the Company now is this: The lands are all under mortgage to the Bank of New Zealand. Interest has to be paid by the end of November prox. Should the interest not be paid, and the Bank then proceed to exercise its legal rights and sell in default of payment of interest, it will eause a great state of confusion and of peril upon the East Coast. Some of the lands, we are informed, are partly occupied by the natives, who have their dwellings and cultivations upon them. Should the bank foreclose end sell off the lands, it would also compel the unfortunate European shareholders to pay the whole of their liabilities on the uncalled share capital, as a forced sale under present circumstances would simply mean giving a magnificent estate away. On the one hand,

therefore, a large number of natives stand in peril of losing their lands, and on the other hand, a number of European shareholders are liable to heavy financial demands, and this lamentable condition of affairs, it is alleged, has been materially contributed to, if not actually precipitated, by the indiscreet interference of the Government, which thwarted the Company’s efforts to direct a stream of immigration to the land. Whether this broad charge is well-founded or not, there can at least be no doubt that whatever chance Mr Rees and Wi Pere had of floating their East Coast colonising scheme before the reading of the Premier’s telegram in the House of Commons, there could not possibly be any chance afterwards. And it is equally manifest that the action of the Government in the matter was (utterly unwarrantable. To any enquiries with regard to the scheme, it would have been sufficient for to have answered that the project was a private enterprise, and one with which the Government of the colony was in no way identified. The action of the Cabinet towards the East Coast Settlement Company, and their behaviour with respect to the Midland Railway Company, stand in very marked contrast. The present position, as we have said, is very serious indeed, for if the loss of their lands have no other evil result it will produce such distrust among the native landowners throughout the North Island that the progress of settlement will be barred. It Government had kept strictly aloof from the mattar throughout, and the Maoris had been taught that, like Europeans, it they go into joint stock company enterprises they must take the chance of loss as well as profit there would have been less cause for apprehension. As it is, they will undoubtedly believe that the loss of their lands has been brought about by' the opposition of the Government. Whether the result would have been different without the interference of the Government it is idle now to speculate, and will assuredly not be considered by the native owners, whose passions are aroused by the process of eviction. In view of the whole of the circumstances very great concern will be felt with regard to the issue of the difficulty by everyone in the colony who is solicitous for the welfare of the native race, and desirous that the good relations and mutual confidenoenow existing between the natives and Europeans shall not be disturbed.—Star.