EXTRACTS FROM " HANSARD."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1919, 15 August 1888, Page 3

EXTRACTS FROM " HANSARD."

VILLAGE SETTLEMENT.

la the Honßeon July 25th Mr Peacock asked the Minister of Lands, — (I,) Whether he is satisfied with the working of the village homestead settlement scheme and hopeful as to its ultimate success ? (2) Does he intend to take any Bpeoial stopa with a viaw to faoilitate further settlement on the land, either on similar lines or any modification of them ? (3 ) Has any oommunloatlon been received recently from the dorps cf Commission era m England with regard to land for pensioner aettlementa lv New Zialand? The question was one of considerable importance, as It affected the profitable Battlement of the country ; and he had been induced to put tho fi:sfc &nd second aeotlona of tbo question because of the exodua of paople at present taking place from tho colony, which must be viewed with regret by every one who had the interests of tha colony at heart. He felt satisfied that if Bpeoial inducements could b& held out to enable theae people to settle on the land, the subject wai one which well deserved the earnest attention of the Governmant, and by this means they could confer great advantages to tho colony, Mr G. F. Richardson said this question was somewhat difficult to answer without coiog into it at some length A careful perusal of the Crown Lands Report gave a very fair statement of the matter ; but he noticed that people had been misled by the report of the Steward of t'lo Auckland village oettlements, who m his report gave only one aide of the case, whereas the Crown Lands Report Btated the matter more carefully and accurately. Shortly put, taking the facts from the Crown Lands Report and a return which hid been laid upon the table during the session, the fact was that th^re had been 1269 village homestead special selectors, who had taken up 39,404 acres of land. Of the original selectors— the 1269 -904 remained m possession representing the acreage of 27,700 acres. There had been 233 allotments forfeited ; 7 1 had been transferred ; and he might say that the effect of these transfers was that a much better class of men had come m place of those who had gone out. Sixty-one sections had been abandoned. The advances made to settlers for works m aid, up to the 31st March, amounted to £22,000. Taking the average, each selector up to that date had cost the colony £24 2s. The receipts, on the aver age, front* each selector had been 17a sd. The approximate liability of tho colony with regard to the selectors at that date would average about £42 per head, making with the advances sod works m aid a total of £66 a head, and the amount owing per selector on the 31st Maroh waa 69 Id. This was the average for the whole colony ; but m the Wellington Provincial Distriot, and In Canterbury and other parts of the South Island, the advances m the Bhape of works m aid had been very muoh lighter than those m the AackUnd district, and therefore the average did not at all give the expenditure npon the Auokland village settlements. To show how mistaken an idea might bo obtained from tha return made by the Village Steward m Auokland, it might bo men tioned that he stated that the total of advances to settlera was £5,800. Be was perfectly correct so far, but it was only a small portion of the expenditure. The expenditure on the Hereklno settlement alone waa £s,247— nearly as much as the Steward represented to be advanced to the whole of the special settlements m the Auckland dfatriot. With regard to the Herekinfi&Bttlers, advances were made to the amonflrof £1,082, but the cost to the oolony had been £5,247. In the case of the Omaha settlement the actual advances made reached £720, while the coat to the oolony was £2,524. Mr Seddon rose to a point of order. The honorable gentleman was giving a return, and he objected to a return being given In answer to a question. Mr Speaker understood that the honorable gentleman was quoting from a return laid on the table, and was not violating the rule which prohibits returns being furnished Iq reply to questions. Mr G-. F, Richardson thought, m a matter of such Importance, he might be permitted to give the facts without being interrupted . Generally, he might say that of tho nineteen village settlements m Auckland there were six self-supporting, and eight of them relied considerably upon Government work 3 m aid. That answered the first part of the question; With regard to the second part, it was not the intention of Government to continue advances to email settlers. By providing facilities for those otLerwise employed to acquire some land m the vicinity of their employment it appeared to the Government that the demand for small settlements would be sufficiently met ; m faot, this had been the result whore the Go yernment had given facilities, and the Government were rapidly extending them. With regard to the third part of the question, no more recent information had been received thau waa to be found m piper 89, presented on the Bth Juue ; but he might say that, if the matter were to develope, the present land laws would enable the Government to provide land for the purposes of a pensioner settlement. Mr Moss would like to know whether the liabilities were personal advances to be made to the village settlers, or whether they were to be covered by real property, m the Bhape of houses or improvements, which would represent the full amount of the so-called liability, and be a security to the Government. Mr G. F. Richardson said they were the balance of the advance: to be given m accordance with regulations under which the lands had been taken up. They were to be given on the condition of setters carrying out the arrangements, and aIBO m the way of Works m aid iv the case of euoh settlement? ' • * were not lelf eupport' ,

Si ing. Approximate fuluro liabilities mpre. fsented both thos?i clasees of exponditiire Sir G Grey moved the adjnmment o: , tho House Ho wiehsd to make Botn< I observations on this matter. What h« wished to do was this : to repreeeut t< the Government that he believed thej hpd an opportunity of affording umple employment to unemployed working mcc and at the same time ot constructing one or two railways that required to be made, For instance, there were tho Ota-go Central and the north of Auckland railway. He believed that ample means could be found for constructing th.-se railways with great advantage to the colony, if the Government, instead of handing over 'and m large quantities to a syndicate. Bet it apart for the purpose of making the railways, and upon the eecurity of tho land iesued debentures, which would have the double securisy of the laud and the public credit, and then disposed of these debentures m the colony at such a rate of interest as was given m respect of the debentures issued* m England. They might be disposed of exactly on the same terms as debentures were disposed of m England ; and, if that were done, he believed it would set free a large amount of money that was at present looked up m the hands of banks and of individuals, and lead to the employment of a considerable portion of the population, and at the same tim 9 afford means of settlement to the people of the colony. Special settlements upon advantageous terms might be formed along the line, and the laboring men who constructed the line would have an opportunity of making homes for themselves and their families, He believed that there never was a better opportunity for carrying out a soheme of that kind than the present, and he feit confident that if the Government would take tha matter up they would h*ve ample support for carrying it through. It vrcu'.d it ones have the effect of commencing the restoration of prosperity, fie hoped that the Government would give the matter consideration Mt»jor Steward regretted very muoh to bear that his honorable friend opposlto did not intend to press on with the good work that had been commenosd by hla predecessor. Jt was very pleasing indeed to hear from honorable Auoinberß from Auckland of the success of the village settlements m that district. It ws all the more satisfactory beoiasa earlier In the session some doabt was thrown upon the question as to whether In that district these settlements bad been so Baooesßfol s8 they had been elaewhere. They had now the unanimous testimony of every honorable gentleman who bad epaken that these settlements had been a success He need only cite the statement of the Minister of Lands himaelf with regard to tho auocess of the settlements eatabllßhed In Canterbury, for he admitted earlier m the session that the settlements established there had been a pronounced Buooess, and that notwithstanding the fact that m a large majority of instances the land wai not the very beat possible land that could have been set aside for the purpose ; fndeed, m some instances it waa very muoh the reverse. He should be glad if the honorable gentleman oould see his way to reconsidertbis matter, and endeavor to extend settlement under this 3F some similar system. The honorable gentleman spoke about the liabilities—' about certain mou6y that nvght be due m respect to these holdings. He would point out to the honotable gentleman that for the want of a system such as this numbers of able-bodied men had to leave the oolony. The number of persons leaving wbb really becoming unpleasantly large. He believed that sort of thing would go on unless the Government developed some system whereby men oould obtain homes for themsolves on tbo land. Every able-bodied man who ielt the oolony practioayy carried away with him what waa e.qaar to £100, Inasmuch as h's contribution to the taxation m one direction or anothuj might fairly be put down at £5, which was the interest on the capital cum of £100. If the man had a family depending on him tho figures became evan larger. So that the honorable gentleman gained nothing, but absolutely lost by discontinuing thfe form of settlement, unless he conld Bhow that the expenditure incurred m establishing these settlements was more than iIGO per ee.tler, supposing even that no part of that £lUO were ever paid back. He hoped the honorable gentleman would reconsider tbla matter, and that subsequently he would make a statement as to what ha intended to dp In this direction. Earlier In the session he (Major Steward) had twice given not'ee to move a resolution with the view of enabling the Government to apply a part of the unallocated som under the Loan Aot to the purpose of establishing a fund out of which they oould acquire land m those parts of the colony where there waa no land available for agricultural settlement. Owing, how-evi-r, to tho pecul ar operation of the Standing Orders he had not had an opportunity ot aay'ng a word on the question. There were a largo number of honorable members holding tho same views as he did who had deputstionlsedths Governmenton this subjeot ; but they bad not bad ft reply from the Government, This was a most Important question, and the House ought to have an opportunity of deoidlng wbat was to be done In order to raise the oolony from Us present condition: They were not going to cure the present state of things by any syßtem of retrenchment, however drastic It was perfectly right and proper that there should be retrenchment In every legitimate direction — no one would more willingly vote for reasonable reductions than himself ; but he oould not olose his eyes to the faot that-, even If the House retrenched to the very last shilling poaaible, that alone would not lift the colony out of the difficulties it was In. He ventured to say that when the House met next year honorable members .would find that they had to face ' financial difficulties as great as, or greater than, they had afc present; What waß to be the remedy for all tbat ? If they oould not reduce expenditure beyond a certain point the obvious course was that they should lnorease their wage-earning and thriving population, so that the burden : might be reduced by being divided over a larger number of people. That was the true remedy. No doub.t the Premier had had little time owing to the tariff and various other large questions occupying his attention ; but he must express his disappointment that the honorable gentleman hud not found tlma to look at this matter from a statesmanlike point of view, to bring his large Intellect to bear upon It, and come down with proposals of a remedial nature, ' and thus put an end to these miserable attempts to mend masters by merely patching up the leak which would never be stopped on the present lines If the Houae sat for a year. He thought the Minister of Linda would admit that he had given him as hearty eupport In his efforts to reform the land legislation as anybody on bis own side of the House ; but he nauat express faia great regret that he had not seen his way to use this instrument of village settlemeut to carry out what he (Major Steward) thought was abßolutßly necessary— namely, the aettlement of the people upon the 801 l under conditions under whloh they oould live and thrive. Messrs Peacook, Mokb, Turnbull, T. Thompson, O'Oallaghan, Fish, O'Oouor, Duncan, Hobbß, Balance and W. P. Reeves, spoke warmly la favor of the , Village Settlement scheme. if