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An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

1. Past Workings of the Present Laws

1. Past Workings of the Present Laws.

The working of the present laws, or their failure, depended entirely from the beginning on whether the Natives would or would not accept the opportunity held out to them of individualizing their titles to land, and of holding it by grant from the Crown. They have accepted it with great promptitude and very clear appreciation of the advantages which they obtain, and it is to this, and the very strong public opinion in favour of the present Native laud laws, that may be attributed the authority which the Native Land Court has acquired, founded only on a moral influence, and which has enabled the Court not only to work the law without check, but to finally settle very many old-standing disputes regarding the ownership of lands, which have been the cause of periodical disturbances, and which I do not think could have been settled by the Natives themselves without the intervention of the Court.