The Evening Star MONDAY. JUNE 12, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2595, 12 June 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY. JUNE 12, 1871.

We- really fail to see what has been gained by the first move of the Provincial Council. Wc do not see that the new Government is either better or •wiser than that which has been displaced. They ate no forwarder with business, they have not proposed better measures, nor do they command the House. It is true they have succeeded in passing in committee a resolution based, we suppose, upon the theoretical discussions and stump arguments they heard and uttered at the late elections ; but the members, who by their vote affirm that the Hundreds Regulations Act prevents settlement, must of necessity be aware that the statement is unfounded. It is true that scarcely anything was attempted under it by tbe late Reid Government, beyond surveying a number of Hundreds which were to have been brought into the market some months ago ; and which, if common energy had been used, would have been sold and settled upon by this time.

Let anyone contrast the way in which private estates arc disposed of with the obstinate sluggishness evinced by the Provincial Government. Within the last six weeks two estates were brought to the hammer and ready purchasers were found. They were eligible properties, divided into suitable sections: they were properly advertised, the terms were stated, and those who purchased were able to calculate whether or not it was worth their while to buy. Just in the same way, had Mr Reid’s late Government gone properly about their work, they would have found men glad to invest their capital. But .for,some,reason or other that did not gjjit them, and ,his present Executive seem inclined to follow in their footsteps. During the elections the party with which he identified himself, misrepresented the true state of, Jt-lio case.

They said there were insuperable impediments to bringing the laud into the market. One of these impediments was, that the squatters having the privilege of twelve months for considering the whereabouts of their pre-emp-tive rights of .640 acres, would not decide upon them until that notice expired. Perhaps, had no other Ministry tried their hands at making arrangements, the country would never have been undeceived, and would have joined with the faction in denouncing the squatters. But what are we to say to such arguments when we find them utterly void of foundation ? No sooner did Mr Reid resign than his successors did what he did not do—they put themselves in communication with the runholders whose runs were affected; and we are not aware of a single iustaonn in which the slightest objection was made to an immediate arrangement, so that the Hundreds could be at once brought into the market. We are quite ready to admit that the clause is an unwise one—we are not by any means doubting that better land laws than those of Otago may be devised. But we are sick of these land regulation debates and dogged refusals to submit to laws. Supposing a law is a bad one, is that a reason why all progress should be delayed until it is altered I Men and women grow hungry, and require to eat and drink, whether or not Air Reid and his faction like the laws on which they are to be allowed the use of an instrument by means of which they can supply their needs; and it seems little short of petty tyranny to refuse to give them the opportunity of doing so, if they accede to tire terms on which the use of that instrument may be had. But it is not they alone who suffer, who would have bought the lands in the Hundreds that months ago might have been placed in the market: the whole community suffers with them. There is not a tradesman or mechanic but has been a loser by the false position in which the Province has been placed by this obstinate refusal to facilitate settlement. It is not the laud that is the wealth of the country. The land has existed for ages past. It has been traversed by the Maoris and the Moa. Forests have disappeared and lie buried, and the wild birds have flown over its length and breadth ; yot the population of the world were none tho richer until man camo and labored upon it. The wealth lies in the investment of bones and sinews in it, and ft is this that Mr Reid’s wilful obstinacy has prevented. Now it cannot be to perpetuate this folly that tho upcountry constituencies sent representatives to the Council, They scut them

to do the work of the Province : to vote for honest and just measures, and not to say we will have nothing, however good, unless handed to us by Reid, Bradshaw, and Bathgate. If the law is a bad one, every member of the Council knew perfectly well that the Cargill Ministry was quite as likely to propose a good one as Mr Reid’s party. We have now been two years without laud sales : we should like to know if we are to wait some eight or twelve months longer, according to precedent, before amove is made? No mercantile firm, no landowner, wbo wished to dispose of his estate, would act upon such a principle. They would state the terms and conditions on which they could part with their land, and put it into the market, . If buyers chose to take it on those terms, well and good : it would be sold. But we never heard of any buyer having it said to him “ Wait twelve months and “ you will have better choice.” The reply would be, “If I wait, twelve “ months I shall have no money to buy “ with; I want land now, to use it; “ and if I cannot buy hero I will buy “ elsewhere.” Not a few have done so, to the injury and loss of the Province. Is this folly to continue ? If so, farewell to Provincialism.