VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1859, 5 June 1888, Page 4

VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

». . Week after week, month after month, the big block organs try to decry the Village Settlements, founded by the late Government, and mainly upon the principle that no man should own or occupy leBB than 10,000 acres of land. It is astonishing to notice the diligence with which they will pile up mis-atat9ment upon mis-statement, until they have raised a vast mountain of falsehood, with which they hope to orush the small farmer out of existence. More especially do thej ridicule the Pahiatua and Woodville settlements as being absolute failures. We learn upon the very best reliable authority that exactly the contrary is the case. At Pahiatua alone, a settlement hewn out of the virgin forest by the sturdy ■ettlexs planted by the late Government, upwards of 60 new cottages have been erected during: the last six months. The Crown Lands Ranger reports that if any section is given up there are at once a score or so of applicants for it, and that, m fact, at the present time sections are practically impossible to get— and this is what the big block organs cill failure! Would that New Zealand had more of euch failures, and less of the 10,000 acre blocks, where a couple of shepherds, a rouse-about, and a Chinese cook are the sole beings who find employment,— Napier "News."