VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3156, 9 August 1881, Page 4

VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

To the artisan, the tradesman, and the saving working man in this colony, the ques tion of establishing village settlementpossesses the highest pra tieal interest The system of village settlements name inti Operation iv " ew Zealand on Ist Januar; last, and has already made satisfactory progress, During the past year 259 person have tuken up 2095 acres on this system and the majority of thobe -etfclers are nou living on thpir small holdings. As the mime implies, tt village settlement is a group of suuill holding.-', from five to ten acres eae! which become the abodes of country tradesmen aud the homsteads of men who di> fencing, harvesting, roadmakine;, and other country work. '1 he land is taken up on the suburban deferred payments system, the payments extend over five years, and improvements to the value of £10 an acre have to be made by the selector in each case. The occupation of each holding as= the home of the selector is compulsory. As each settler can only have one section, ii is obvious that all "land grabbing" for purposes of speculation is rendered impossible. '1 he price required for the sections ranges from £5 to £10 per acre. Working men who live in the large cities of the colons should direct their earnest attention to thY system by means of which they obtain freehold homes for. themselves and families. Ii ii » serious evil that so many working men should remuin in the large cities, often choking up the labor market, when the;* would have a fax , wider scope for their exertions in some of the country districts, besides the opportunity of acquiring a permanent home of their own. A working man taking up a section in a village settlement woultt work for wages as employment could be found, and utilise the rest of his time in improving his holding. Somo of those village settlements have been established by the Wuimate Plains, the land being splendid quality, and there are still sections open for selection. .All over the colony reserves have been made for this purpose, and at the present moment there is an aggregate of 1362 sections from one quarter to fifty acres each, open for selection under the system in the Tarious land districts throughout the North and fciouth Islands. A plan which will help to populate tho country districts of the colony with thrifty and industrious settlers, claims our best wishes for its success. Under enoh a system the day-laborer would soon become a freeholder, and feel himself an independent man, with a stake in the country, and with a fair prospect, by thrift and industry, of securing a modest competence for himself and his family.