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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 72

The Native Land Question

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The Native Land Question.

This much vexed question is again occupying the attention of the House of Representatives. The Acts of Parliament previously passed for the purpose of providing for the establishment of Native Land Courts, and governing the conditions under which lands can be acquired from the Natives, have proved faulty and unsatisfactory. In order to improve upon the existing laws, the Hon. Mr Seddon has introduced a new Bill for that purpose. Under its provision the private dealing in Native lands is prohibited, and it is proposed to resume the pre-emptive right of the Crown. A great deal has been kid of the unfair treatment the Natives have suffered through private persons purchasing lands from them, but Mr Hone Heke, the member for the northern Maori district, who is a most capable representative of the Maori race, thinks that the instances of unfair dealing on the part of Europeans have not been so numerous as to afford grounds for supposing that the Natives are more justly dealt with by the Government agents than by private purchasers. Speaking in the House the other day he maintained that many Maoris had been victimised in the past by Government officers. In years gone by the Native agents, backed by the power of the Government, have inflicted wrongs on the Native race, and even at the present time we cannot see lit the Natives have much to be thankful for to the Government. When purpling laud from them the Government only pay one-third of the value of the land taken, and in a purchase which was completed not long ago a block of a quarter of a million acres of land situated some distance from here was acquired at a cost of 2s per acre. The land taken was estimated at 6s an acre by the Surveyor-General, but only about 5000 acres is suitable for purposes of settlement, while the remainder is of scarcely my value at all, and in consequence of the absence of roads the probability is that a very long period will elapse before the Government will be able to obtain any returns from it. The resumption of the preemptive right of the Crown would not be calculated to benefit the Natives, and would probably result in the cessation of land purchases from them altogether. The Natives, though incapable of understanding sound principles of finance, and living much after the manner of the sparrows, have nevertheless a very good idea of the value of their lands, and under a system by which they only receive a third of the value when selling to the Government, they will not be likely to part with any good land, hut will only consent to sell the worthless portion of their estates. And it would not be by any means an economical way of purchasing land for Government agents to be always journeying from kainga to kainga endeavouring to persuade the Maoris to sell. One plan which has been suggested as being probably acceptable to them, is that the Government should first of all set aside ample reserves of land, of good quality, for their maintenance, and that after all reasonable provision has been made to place them in such a position that they will not necessarily become a burden on the State, that the Government should have power to take from the Natives whatever blocks of land they require, upon payment of a price for it to be mutually agreed upon by valuators appointed to assess the value of the land, both for the Natives and the Government. If native land purchases were conducted upon this basis, the transactions would in all probability be satisfactory to members of both races. On the other hand, if these provisions are not made, there would seem to be bur one other practical course open—to legalise free trade in native land. With respect to the Natives themselves, there can be very little doubt that their numbers are becoming less year by year, and though it is deplorable to contemplate the gradual decadence of an intelligent race, every effort should be made to secure their material welfare by setting aside reserves of land for their special use and benefit.