THE “THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES SHALL TEACH ME SPEED.” KING JOHN, ACT IV. Wednesday, December 1, 1875.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IV, Issue 337, 1 December 1875, Page 2

THE “THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES SHALL TEACH ME SPEED.” KING JOHN, ACT IV. Wednesday, December 1, 1875.

Among the numerous questions upon which it is absolutely necessary that the Ministry should come to a decision during the recess so as to present themselves to the ensuing Parliament with some dolinito measure, the method of dealing with the largo estate in course of acquisition in the North Island is one of the most important. Our readers may probably like to have their memories refreshed as to the rise of the present Land Purchase system, and we may, therefore, bo excused for giving a brief recapitulation of what lias boon done. Under the Immigration. and Public Works Act, 1870, the House voted a sum of £200,000 for the purchase of land for settlement in the North Island, such lands to bo bought by the Government at the request of the Superintendent of the Province in which they wore situated; when purchased, they were to ho handed over to the Province to ho dealt with under its Waste Land Laws, and their cost was to ho charged against the Province. In 1873, a further sum was voted, and the Assembly sanctioned the expenditure of £500,000 for the acquisition of a landed estate for the North Island ; hut tins time the conditions were changed, and the Provinces were relieved of any charge upon them for lands bought out of this sum or out of the preceding £200,000.

In fact, the Colony, as a whole to the North Island, a i £700,000 to-acquire a reserving to the General the management and direction o£ machinery, and stipulating that of the lands so acquired should T granted for scrip, and that tK should ho sold at not less than*’ 1 shillings an acre if by auction, or gi tliau one pound per acre if auction. The following table, v<\": from Sir Donald McLean’s LaiulN eliaso Statement, shows the osisditurc of the sum voted, llieir di m biition, and the unexpended hala*-!’'

It has boon made a subject of cot? plaint by tho Maponntondout oft! Province of Auckland tliat the inr ■ devoted to the land purchase iu H Province was not handed over to t Provincial Authorities for them : operate with. Put wo approkoiiP , shall have with in. tho most of tp population, when wo assert IliaP'i a course would probably have -defeat tho object meant to be obtained I fact, Sir George Grey on one occash has candidly confessed that Ilia bar.for of this money to tho Proviui* chest would have boon very during tho difficulties under win Auckland had laboured; in p, words, most of it would have h diverted into channels through v.u it was not meant to flow. Whaler may bo tho accusations against i-;' Government for its administrations * dioso funds—and cn this wo h; 5 already spoken—there is no n ; - that tilings would have been IV.nwy, had the money been liamlod in sum to tho .Province. Lot us mflp tho results of the management ; ‘ land purchased by the Goner* Government as is shown in thofctup merit made by tho Native Hiakp. and in wliioh wo place tho utiw reliance, notwithstanding Mr Bftf "Wood’s curious remark, that ' returns presented by tho Govern© were all false. Wo le#n that ‘ area acquired is

Province. * Sijcr : 5:;, Hawke’s Bay by purctnue ... *W' . Wellington by purchase ... 42V-* Taranaki by purchase ... ICU' * A total of 1,331,522 acres, p’.ircbat a cost of, imiiidiii" £13,003(1®., . for expenses of department, sion, &c., £104,218 10s _ lh; 2s. spl. per acre; and 31il,G0Hb leased, on which has heu I'yk' sum of £2,987 9s. Id., and incomplete transactions represenu ■ j Province. Syl - a— (gcT:!:«» Hawke's Bay by purchase ... ~ '»gf Taranaki by purchase ... A total of 2,941,842i acres ud { % chase, and 1,522,502 acim ... lease. In all 4,40-1,344 wliich has been paid? 1!1 ' r y : , £l3 135 25., 9<l. for V * services, the .sum qi - 1 ‘Wflig From the totals it will ho s ' ? pm no less than 6,187,467 j£-1 have l)eon negotiated for a on wliich moneys havtq Ti:-7 amounting to £280,029 On ~ „,y dihorcnce between tins >l and tl iat of £37 7,0 a 9 1 A’ in the Colonial Treasurer s

as charged against the Land Purchase, is made as under: —

Kow that we have six millions of acres, either bought or iu the course 0 f acquisition, the question is as to liow they si mil bo disposed of to the I,iest advantage to the Colony. Wo know very wadi how they can be treated with the greatest disadvantage, and that would ho by Landing over nuw what is already obtained to the Provinces, ay ho would doubtless follow the example sot by Otago and Canterbury, and rush them into the market as* fast as they could so as to ,rot cash in Land without a care for |ho future. But we aro very much mistaken in our estimate of the Ministry if they should commit such mi unpardonable mistake; they hold iu trust, as it were, a vast extent of country to ho utilised for the future as wadi as for the present welfare of the Mur th Island, and they would not bo justified in throwing away the ' power they have of largely benodiUmg tho Colony. ’During the List session tnero was a great deal said about the necessity of hooping airlands for “ settlement,” which wo understand to moan agricultural occupation in small block's. Now, we may bo very unorthodox in our ideas, but it appears to us that, after the experience which has been learned in tho Province of Auckland, the greatest care should bo taken not to part with any portion of the public estate to persons who cannot utilise it —who Lave not tho moans of cultivating their farms. Wo Lave seen in tho Bay of Plenty the results of such a policy ; I Lore aro in it thousands of acres lying waste, and likely to lie waste for .years, simply because they were distributed among individuals w Lo had neither ability nor money to make rise of them. In tho first place then, land for settlement should not be indiscriminately alienated; and, in (lie second place, no land should be thrown open for agricultural occupation which is not fit for it. This brings as to our third idea, which is, that a very senseless outcry Las boon made against the acquisition, by capitalists, of laud which they can turn to advantage, but which would be a white elephant to the small settler. We contend that the introduction _of largo employers of labor is a blessing to a district'; and it would bo of tho greatest benefit to tho country if, in conjunction with the settlement of small holders, the Government allowed the purchase of good sized blocks—say up to ton thousand acres—by individuals or companies prepared to work tho land. Again, largo tracts are being acquired which are totally unfit for agriculuturo, but yet admirably adapted for pastoral pursuits ; we can see no reason why these should not bo disposed of, say by lease, to individuals on tho same principle as adopted in the South, and in Australia. A uniform classification of our lauded estate is the first desideratum when that is done, and when fair and workable regulations for its administration and disposal are brought into .force, wo have no doubt that tho success anticipated for the Land Purchase Scheme will bo fully realised.

Expenditure. [ Auckland. j 1 Hawke's i Bay. "Wellington. Tararmld. Total. Negotiations Completed, part 1 Negotiations in progress, part 2 Geweral Expenses, part 3 ! ~£ s7 d 1 60.671 6 I 77,866 13 j 54,802 17 1. 8 5 o 24,270 1,625 4,042 Z d~T 11 10 4 0 14 11 £ b. d. 43,882 1 8 25,359 16 4 35,121 2 11 25,381 836 7,512 8. 19 4 12 d. 0 6 3 ij t*. 154,205 39 105,687 18 101,479 7 d. 2 3 3 Total Expenditure to June 30, 1875 | 193,340 17 ~3 ~29~,173S~ 10 9 104.363 0 11 33,730 15 ~9 "361,730 " 4" ~3 Distribution of Vote of 1870 Distribution of V'ote of 1873 | 0~ I 250.000 0 ~6 0 2u,00U 50,000 O U 0 0 150,000 0 0 50,000 0 0 0 2007)00 0 500,000 0 0 Total ... j l35o~(To(T~"<J" ~0 7o,ouo o u 200, U00 0 0 ~8U^000" ~0~ ~0 "y6o.oocr~(r Balauco remaining unexpended on June 30th, 1S75 i ( 156,659 2 9 40,061 0 3 95,636 19 1 40,269 4 3 1 338,626 15 4 Less advances to ofBpers outstanding on June 30tli ... — ! ■ ... 1 / j IS,656 13 5 Kci'Hnl»ncn ... --- -■• 1 i J / / / airs, o<u> x 11.

'■ £ 8. cl. Province of ;”-s = T. n , Auckland, o p 7; X a s , ■ 17;017 0 0 Province of Hawke's a >-* 1., » P «3 Haj> U r. P-t r-4 0 0 © '■s T ~ :k : 5 <J 3,000 0 0 Transfer to IS uti vo Land Ac* count under Appropriation Acts of 18/2 1.S73,1874.. 24/202 s 5 Advance to New Zealand .Set ilfineiit Act. (Uunf seated Land?) ... 20.500 0 C Kspenses of rinsing Loan ... 0,534 1 1 In .Suspense Account 100 15 0 £75,314 4 6