The Land Question.

Dunstan Times, Issue 996, 20 May 1881, Page 2

The Land Question.

WHAT THE PRESS SAYS. Public Opinion. Our readers have no need to bo told thet our heartiest good wishes are with Mr V. Pyko and those gentlemen who are associated with him in the agitation for the settlement of the people on the soil. Wo are all of us dependent on the earth for a largo portion of the means of life and sustenance, and therefore too much attention cannot be paid to the subject. Although a comparatively small proportion of the population are directly employed in the production of food, all, without exception are vitally interested in its distribution, and every member of the community is dependent for his daily bread on the cultivator of the soil. Every encouragement should be given to those who are engaged in agriculture, and liberal inducements should be held out to industrious yeomen who are anxious to settle upon the land. The colony owes a great deal to the pastoral pioneers who opened up the country and established the wool-growing industry which is such a potent factor in augmenting our prosperity. They have done the State some service, and they have reaped their reward. The memorial adopted by the Otago Central Land League reveals a state of affairs which might have answered very well when this provincial district was in its infancy, hut which should not bo tolerated now that there are thousands who are anxious to settle upon the land. The settlement of the people on the land is a subject of such far-reaching and consummate importance, that its attainment may well supply a potent motive to spur the flagging energies of our legislators. While the present Government are in power there is little hope that the reasonable demands of the Central Otago Land League will be complied with. Unless the Liberal members give a firm and unflinching support to the principles enunciated by the league, wo shall denounce them as traitors to their party, and betrayers of the trust reposed in them. We hope to see the Liberal party in the next session of Parliament presenting an unbroken front in the House, and proclaiming this cry as their motto : “The land for the people, and the people for the land.”

Tuapeka Times. Tho land agitation is assuming a tangible shape in Vincent County. The burden of the memorial drawn up is that the runs in Vincent Connty should be cut up as the leases fall in, and offered to tho public in such a manner as will give men of moderate means the opportunity of seeming a piece of agricultural or pastoral land. The present agitation is most timely. From experience we can assure those concerned that it is only by agitation that they need expect to attain their object. It was only after years of unceasing agitation that a fair portion of tho lands In Tuapeka were thrown open ; and from the opposition that was lately brought to bear against tho opening of one of tho green spots in this district, it was made plain that some agitation may yetbe required before the full complement of land falls into proper hands. “Agitate, agitate, agitate,” shall ever be the cry of all reformers. For once we can join heartily with Mr Pyke, and wish him “God speed.” The cause ho has espoused is a holy one, and success will bring honor and glory upon his devoted head. As every Parliament has its amended Land Act, we presume tho coming session will not be an exceptional one, and, this being so, we would draw attention to a suggestion made by Mr J, A. Connell in a letter to one of our contemporaries. Ho holds that the radical vice of the Land Act as it now stands is the provision that the new leases must be offered for sale 12 months before the expiry of the present leases. It is impossible, he says, to expect that settlers will commit themselves to a contract involving absolute idleness on their part for more than a whole year beforo they can enter upon their land, besides paying a considerable sura of money in advance. _Mr Connell gets over tho difficulty of allowing the runholder time to remove his stock by substituting for the twelve months as at present allowed a term of two months, with the proviso that if the present tenant is not the purchaser he should be allowed a term of one month beyond the date of the expiiy of his leaso to remove his stock, the new purchaser being let into possession three months from the day of sale. This matter is one deserving serious consideration by the Land League, and wo earnestly commend it to thorn. We notice that they make several suggestions in tho direction of an amendment of the Land Act. Let this one bo added, as it appears so essential to the proper settlement of tbo question. The law as it stands, requiring a purchaser to wait for twelve months before he can obtain possession, simply throws the land into the hands of its present owners at their own price.

W aim ate Times,

Wo shall be surprised if the Otago Land League which Mr Vincent Fyke, M.H.R.,is founding does not become a groat fact and a groat factor in the politics of tho future—nay,rather of the almost immediate present' Let those who will ridicule the efforts of the honorable member, we venture to assert that his cause is a just one, and that upon the action taken with regard to tho Crown lands in Otago, tho question of tho future of the colony in no small degree depends. Whatever may have been°tho wisdom or unwisdom of letting the runs in such vast areas in times past, there can bo no doubt that when they arc let again tho areas should be immensely curtailed, and that wherever possible the land should bo parcelled out in such a way as will allow of its occupation by a class of men who will carry on a System of mixed agricultural and pastoral farming and rear their families on tho soil. Under such a system as this, tho production of wool would be immensely increased, with at the same time an enormous increase in agricultural produce, while it would mean the multiplying of the number of families living on the soil tenfold, and produce progress and prosperity in place of stagnation and depression. A state of things such as that pointed out by Mr Fyke where, ns in the County of Vincent, thero are only two of tho Crown tenants (meaning in this case runholders) living on their runs, and a million and a half acres are handed over to ton managers, is, to say the least of it, an anachronism in these days, and there ought to be but one answer to his question : “Shall this state of things be continued? Shall the whole of the lands in the interior and other parts of Otago, comprising altogether no less than six million acres of the people’s property, continue to behold by a few men, tho majority of whom arc absentees, and who all’ hold acres of land too large to bo able to use them profitably ?” Thero is happily now tho opportunity for a revision of this state of things. Tho intention of Parliament ia obvious enough, but unless further pro. vision is made it will of effect, inasmuch as though each separate lot may not exceed perhaps 200,000 acres thero is nothing to prevent one and the same purchaser from buying the leases of 10 or even 100 such lots. This would in our opinion altogether

defeat tho wishes of the Legislature, and now that tho danger is seen it is not too much to expect that a determined effort will bo made at the coming session to get a short amending Act passed, which will effectually prevent such a disaster—for a disaster and a public calamity it wonld undoubtedly prove. Mr Pyke proposes to do this by compelling the residence of the Crown .tenant on his land, and as it is obvious he could only reside upon one holding it would follow that he could legally occupy but one. Another way of getting at it would bo by limiting the area of Crown lands leaseable to any one tenant. Wo hope that tho result of Mr Poke's crusade will bo so plain an expression of public opinion that hon. members will know that they must obey tho voice of the people or prepare to be sent to the right-about at the forthcoming elections. Pastoeal and Aoricui.tdral News. We condense the following from the above “Mr Vincent Pyke, M.H.R., has been stirring up the subject, and in a speech delivered at Clyde a few days ago, he gave some startling facts and figures as to existing leases. According to these, there are about one million acres of land in Otago hold by twenty-one persons or firms, many of them absentees ; there are also five runs, comprising some 782,000 acres, of which 739,947 acres will have to be dealt with by the Otago Land Board shortly. The writer of two vigorous articles in the “Dunedin Star throws out strong insinuations that , *j9e Board are already preparing to shelve vne subject in the interest of the run holders, and he instances in support of this, their treatment of a memorial from the Cromwell district. The Board resolved “ that consideration of the petition be deferred until the topographical maps, now in course of preparation, are ready, and before the Board.” In reference to these maps, it is stated that they have already been in course of preparation for two or three years. Significance is also attached to the fact that when the Chief Surveyor was sent for to give information on the subject, he refused to attend. The action of the Board and the Chief Surveyor is certainly not quite intelligible, but wo trust that there is no ground for any supposition that the whole matter is already “ cut and dried.” It is to be hoped that Parliament will take prompt steps to bring obout a pacific shttlement of what thrertens to cause considerable embitterraent of feeling {between two large and important sections of the community.”