The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1873.

Dunstan Times, Issue 604, 14 November 1873, Page 2

The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1873.

Beneath the Rnleof Men entirely just the pen is lunuTiEßthau the sword.

Mr. James Mackintosh, through the columns of the Invercargill Weekly Times, indulges in a very long letter on the land question, which he dedicates to the Hon. Julius Vogel. The writer starts upon grounds not entirely new, the same having been advocated many years since in Victoria, it is this, that, instead of selling the lands under the present system, every British subject being a married man, should have the right to select two hundred acres for agricultural purposes, where he has a family of five ! children, the selection to be increased j to three hundred acres, and in the i case of ten children the quantity to j be four hundred acres, land so select- ! Ed to be in alternate blocks of a section, iuter’ening blocks to bo sold by auction after ten years, and which, i accoiding to the idea of the writer, | would realize upon an average 51. per j acre Taking the Island Block as an instance, for which the Province received 40,000?. from Mr. W. J. T. C arke, Mr. Mackintosh proceeds to say that, had this 50,000 acres been dealt with after his fashion, there would have been 125 farms of 400 acres each, sixty-two of which "would have been available for settlement, and supposing each married couple to be possessed of the inevitable ten children, and say, employing two men upon each farm, the population would amount to 802 men, women and children, and again, supposing each selector to be possessed of GOO/. capital, there would be a total of 37,000/. to find its way into circulation, while the revenues, taking the average payments at the Custom House -at 4/. per head of the population, would be benefitted to the extent of 3,472/. per annum or 34,720/. for the ten years, while the sale of the reserved sections at 5/. per acre would realize 125,000/ the writer allows that what the State might lose in the shape of interest, would be amply recouped by the indirect contributions of the occupiers of the lands in the shape of Custom’s rveenue and general advantages to trade. Mr Macintosh must no Jpubt have given the subject much consideration before writing his letter, and so far as the conclusions arrived at, they are correct, but is is one thing to place a matter upon paper, and another, to put it into practice. The whole of the 50,000 acres sold to Mr. W. J. T. Clarice is not applicable to [agricultural purposes, and had it even been dealt with according to Mr. Mackintosh’s ideas, it is questionable whether sixty-two farms of 400 acres each could have been selected, while as to the remainder no person would give anything like 51. per acre for it, and we much question whether purchasers for agricultural purposes, except in the case _pf choice blocks, could be found at all. So far ns experience leads■ us; -agricultural lau 1 in the interior portion of Hew Zealand, especially when far removed front the seaboard, does not largely increase in

valiie, and is never likely to reach 51. per acre ; there may possibly he some few exceptions, but not as a general' rule. Farming operations where a shipping port is not readily reachable must be necessarily confined to local consumption, and'when'that point is reached, any surplus becomes of no comparative value, and we feel quite assured that the produce of even 63 larms of 460 acres each on the Island Block af the Teyiot would swamp the market for miles around. We have always condemned the action of the Provincial Government in selling this block to Mr. Clarke, such-a large slice of land could have been disposed of to more advantage by cutting it up into smaller sections, while a number of persons would have found employment by occupying it either'for agricultural or pastoral purposes, as it is, we do not suppose that Mr. Clarke employs one inconsequence of his purchase. It is essentially necessary that the lands should be oc cupied by as many people as' possible, or what is the use of the mil ways that we are constructing, or any other public works. The squatter as a body have proved highly useful, but there is no necessity for increasing their number or the extent of their holdings, in fact, we cannot afford to do so; population must be introduced, and if they do not choose to occupy the land, it. must at least be available for that purpose ; we cannot ask people to come here without providing them with room to settle down and make a living, or we are enticing them to immigrate under false representations. Immigrants will no doubt in the course of time all tied their proper places, some will choose agricultural or pastoral pursuits, others, mechanical or otherwise, but theie must be ample room left for them to do so, and nothing can be more, detrimental to the interest of the Colony while we I are seeking population, than the alienation of land in large blocks. Mr. Mackintosh instances the achievements made in the cause of free selection and deferred payments by his Honor Judge Grey, while president of the Convention League in Victoria, and regrets that his Honor cannot once more enlighten the public mind by his advocacy of the land question In conjunction with Mr. Mackintosh we quite endorse his views with regard to what has been accomplished by Mr. Wilson Grey in the settlement of the people upon tbe lauds, and hisvery liberal ideas in regard to that subject, but we can hardly expect Mr. Grey to come forward again as the peoples’ champion, ho has done his work, and well done it too, and it is for younger and move vigorous men to commence where he left off. Mr. James Mackintosh has made a very good commencement, but Ms ideas as yet are rather wild and crude—his plan for occupying the waste lands may be applicable when there is an unlimited area of country at disposal, and where markets for produce are easily available, but in our case where tacilities for occupation exist, the lands advantageously situated are already occupied, and to make what remains worth settling upon they must be disposed of in blocks of dimensions sufficient for part agriculture and part pastoral, and upon forms of deferred payments easily to be complied with. A recognised system of dealing with the waste lands is badly wanted in New Zealand, and perhaps if Mr Mackintosh will, after making such a good beginning, continue Ms efforts so that something practicable may be gathered from Ms ideas.