VOLUNTEER LAND ORDERS.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2498, 17 February 1871, Page 2

VOLUNTEER LAND ORDERS.

To the Editor of the Evening Star, Sir, —In last week’s issue of the iVai • kouaili Herald, is a summary of the speech delivered by Air Reid at Palmerston ; and in it is the following, which I think deserves a wide circulation. Speaking of the above, he said “ His interpretation of the Act is, that Volunteers should settle on their land, aui not be allowed to transfer their scrip to others. He would support an alteration in the Act rendering such a course imperative. ’ Now, sir, there is a view of the subject worthy of a man aspiring to the office of Superintendent of Otago. Mr Roid and his admirers make a great deal of the common sense which Mr R. hj said to be endowed with. It is one of their trump cards; and after reading the above extract, who shall blame them—is it not patent to all ? There is nothing unjust or unreasonable in it. It is, beyond comparison, superior to Mr Macandrew’s immigration scheme from Sweden and Norway, &c. Mr Reid’s darling wish—so he says—is to see the country settled with a “ thriving yeomanry.” And here is the way to accomplish it. There is not a man amongst us but may, in a few years, by means of this plan, be proprietor of a “pig stye and potato patch.” Do you ask how ? Why, simply join the Volunteers ; and after serving live years you are entitled to a land order to the value of L3O when you can go and buy your land, and take your place in the ranks of the “thriving yeomanry.” lam aware you will probably raise such an objection as this: You are in a situation in town, and before you can do as Mr R. says, you will have to resign your billet True, that is an ‘ 1 imperative course ” before you can participate in the benefits that Mr R. is anxious to confer upon you. But you would surely never be so obstinate as to prefer a salary of Ll5O or L2OO a-year, which you are liable to lose at any time, to a provision for life, consisting of L3O worth of land on some of the beautiful sloping declivities with which this Province abounds.' And more than that, you would then have what is so desirable - viz , “a stake in the country.” Consider that—“ a stake in thg country!” We owe a great deal to this “ stake.” But for it some of our great politicians would never have entered on a public career. You may at present be one of those with “ a box of paper co’lars and a portmanteau,” and dou’t take much interest in politics. But all this would be changed if you had a “stake” in the country. You would then feel that you had some aim in life, some responsibility in guiding the affairs of State aright; and perhaps in some critical time you might be constrained to offer your services to pilot the vessel out of danger, and in reply to any enquiry that might be made as to your qualifications for the office, you could answer by pointing triumphantly to your “ stake in the country.” Don’t you feel your bosom swell with gratitude to Mr Reid as you contemplate the gigantic results that may spring from his seemingly trivial and paltry scheme of colonisation by means of the “ Volunteers’ Laud Orders ?” You would never have hit upon such a sublime yet simple plan. I daresay not! But then you may not be a genius. Mr Reid is. You are not a statesman. Mr Reid is. There lies the difference. JVaxcUur non ft is as true ©f statesmen as of poets. If, then, you have any desire for a, “potato patch anc| a pig stye,” remember to whom you are indebted for the wish, and also for the means whereby you can have it realised; and if you have any gratitude at all, you must surely do all in your power to place him where he wants to be— i.e., at the top of the poll. Yours, &c., S. D. Feb. 11th, 1871.