Private Land Ownership.

New Zealand is about as large as England and Wales, Scotland, and half of Ireland. It contains, altogether, about 68 millions of acres. Mr. Trayers, who is a very old and experienced colonist, and was one of the two Members for the capital City, Wellington, in the House of Representatives, stated, in his place in Parliament, "a monstrous fact in connection with the colonization of the country, that 112 people are owners of an extent of land which is something like a tenth or twelfth of the whole area of the islands of New Zealand." I have not the means of ascertaining the total quantity of land which is already in private hands. Those 112 landowners alone thus hold, on the average, upwards of 50,000 acres each. A few hold 100,000 acres page 6 and upwards each,—which is more than the whole of Rutlandshire, or considerably more than half of Middlesex, in England.

There are about 456,000^* people in New Zealand; of whom 45,000, or nearly one-tenth, are Maori, or aboriginal natives, still owning probably about one-fourth of the whole area of the colony. Thus 212 out of the 416,000 white colonists hold about one-eighth of the remaining three-fourths. Of course there are other freeholders, each owning a tract of from a fraction of an acre to anything less than any of the favoured 112.

But there are negotiations yet in progress, by which a few more private monopolists may possibly acquire further large tracts of land in the North Island from the Natives. A striking instance is that of "The Murimotu block," comprising nearly a quarter of a million acres of excellent land, well situated. Mr. W. Sefton Moorhouse, one of the three Members for the City of Christchurch in the House of Representatives, is Agent for both the Natives and the would-be proprietors. There were originally five in number; one, the Agent's brother-in-law; another, the brother of the well-known "Tom Russell," who is the soul of the Bank of New Zealand. If the strenuous and influential efforts of this company succeed, this block will become, first their sheep-run, and then their private property, with very small gain to the public revenue, and with but a trifling addition to the public landed estate. In that case, there will be 117 persons owning more than six and a half million acres out of the fifty millions and three-quarters not in the hands of the Natives.

The 112 do not pay one penny to the ordinary revenue in consequence of their land ownership. The five Murimotu monopolists will pay but a trifle to the revenue under the Wellington pasturage regulations, and will acquire the freehold dirt cheap.

There is also a small number of graziers, each of whom holds, under lease or license from the Government or the Natives, a tract varying in extent from 1000 to 100,000 acres. The tenants of the public pay a small rent, which goes into the Land Fund. The Colonial Treasurer estimates this rent for the current year at £147,525. The tenants of the Natives pay no rent or other contribution to the public revenue, as such tenants. There are, of course, lessees of portions of private land less than 1000 acres, especially in towns and suburban districts. Some labourers for wages own, or hold on lease, small portions of land. No holder of land, either his own or by lease or license—whether the land be large or small in extent—contributes anything to the ordinary public revenue of the colony on account of that land.