The Evening Star. THURSDAY, NOVEMBERS, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3652, 5 November 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, NOVEMBERS, 1874.

The question of the abolition of the North Island Provinces is opening up several subjects that, but for that proposition, might have slumbered. Amongst them is the manner in which the land of the Colony is dealt with by Provincial Councils. We have pointed out many times in the course of those stormy sessions occupied mainly with discussions on the laud question, that it was impossible the regulations adopted could be considered final, as two sections of the community only were considered in the matter : the farmers and the graziers. These two, being the majority of the Council, set up a sort of faction fight on the subject, and dealt with the question of property in land as if they were the only parties interested. It seems to have been overlooked that there is a third and large class who should equally be considered—those who neither own nor lease land, but make their livings by trade or labor, Parodoxical though this may seem, it is nevertheless true, and current events are bringing it prominently into notice. Very little reflection is necessary to prove th® truth of this statement. It is lost sight of through our traditional ideas of property in land derived from arrangements founded upon the division of society into castes, by which some enjoyed che privilege of living by right of birth, and others by permission of this privileged class. " Although in this Colony nearly every vestige of the privilege of birth is abolished, the arbitrary arrangements connected with the terms on which land shall be used have been adopted, and most probably will remain unaltered until abolished at great expense and trouble .some two or three generations hence. Yet now seems to be the time when the change should be made in regard to lands acquired by the Crown In the North Island. Very quietly, but not less certainly, the General Government has been acquiring a large and valuable estate in the North Island. In the Province of Auckland 236,061 acres have been purchased, and 170,142 leased from the Natives, at a cost of £32,710. In Hawke’s Bay 183,430 acres cost £20,853 ; in Wellington, 324,330 acres were obtained for £34,566; and in Taranaki 113,870 for £13,j19. The total thus obtained is 857,691 acres purchased and 170,142 leased; or 1 027,823 acres at an’expense of £101,651—-more than a million of acres, at about 2s an acre. According to traditional useage this valuable estate, which is said to comprise some of the finest laud in the Colony, should be handed over to the Provinces for settlement; when scenes similar to those that have taken place in our own Council would be enacted. The squatters would prefer their claims to use the land on leasehold, or, if possible, purchase for feeding sheep and cattle ; while the farmers would have it cut up into small sections to suit clodocrats of limited means. It is not very likely that, in these days, it would be transferred to land speculators at half-a-crown or five shillings an acre, as was extensively done when formerly estates were disposed of in those Provinces ; but it is very probable it would be thrown away at ten shillings or a pound an acre, in order to raise the wind to make some few miles of metalled road or a few bridges over dangerous rivers. We are accustomed to consider that the systems adopted in Canterbury and in this Province have proved the superiority of our management to that of the landlacking Provinces of the North. So fai as having obtained a higher price for what has been sold, this is true ; but the land will not stretch out indefinitely, and a time must come when it will pass from our hands, if the present arrangements are persisted in. The signs of the times are foreshadowed by the falling-off in the amount of the sheep and cattle assessment for the year. It tells that land once yielding gracing rent, has become private property ; fot it is certain that there lias been no diminution in the number of live stock in the Province. It follows, therefore, that we are rapidly progressing towards I a time when public works will have to j be executed by special local taxes inj stead of out of land revenue —as it is euphoniously but wrongfully named and we have abundant evidence-in the action taken by the Legislative Council that, no matter who has to pay, the owners of landed property will not put their hands in their pockets even to improve their own estates, if they can manage to get it done at the expense. In the North they do not ftdmire the Management of our Provincial j estates by Canterbury and Otago, as we ; ourselves are prone to do. There can j be no question whatever that should j the General Government adopt the ! system followed by the lords of the ! soil in Europe, the land acquired in the 1 North would yield an annual rental per acre, on equitable leases, fully equal to the amount of the purchase money,

and we know of no investment equal to it. A joint stock company’s shaves go up to a premium when the dividend reaches 10 per cent, per annum, although from the nature of the business the risks might reduce it to nothing next year ; but the General Government has invested somewhat over one hundred thousand pounds in an undertaking that will, if decently managed, yield cent per cent, per annum. In Otago we should part with it for ten years’ purchase. The interest of the farmers and squatters would certainly he studied by such a sacrifice, but what about those who are neither the one nor the other ? A few investments of that sort would relieve them from taxation, pay interest on public works, provide means for harbor improvement, extension of railways, and other outlay needful for increasing the value of the national estate. This would be the plan followed by the Duke of Argyle ; why not by the colonists of New Zealand 1 The rent of land is a consideration given to the owner for the use of it as a means of profit; and the Colonv is the owner of the laud. The ‘ New Zealand Times’ points to what it may be if handed over to the Northern Provinces :

Land-sharks ” are, no doubt, highly incensed at the land purchases of the Government, and throw every possible obstacle in the way, but, notwithstanding, a most valuable estate Ims been acquired. Very much, however, will depend u on how it is disposed of. If the General Government will hand it over, or any considerable part of it, to the Provincial authorities, a great mistake will be committe : . The land has been acquired out of borrowed money, and it should be set ap-rt (or so much of it as may be available for agricultural settle ment) for the location of immigrants. By doing so, a very considerable population may be tied to the soil, and the country will have the best possible guarantee for the interest on the purchase money. In this way also, the General Government may do a great deal towards repairing the grievous mistake that was committed in not reserving at the outset, in the respective Provinces, a suffi ient area of agriland for bond Jlda settlement. The Provincial Executives of Canterbury and Otago arc 'competing with each other as to which shall alienate all the public estate first. It is, therefore, idle to expect anything like ce operation in the task of easing the burden of ultimate taxation, bv the settlement of a large producing population upon the waste lands. They look only to the present-—to the realisation and expenditure of large sums of money in thenrespective Provinces—taking no thought for the future. It is impossible to stay them in their reckless career. Their proceedings are strictly legal; but we protest most strenuously against the Government, _ with the Middle Island example betore their eyes, transferring the land acquired in the North Island, under the Immigration and Public Works Act, to Provincial administration. The Colony looks to hav<these lands settled. It expects to have some return for the outlay in the extension of settlement, and increase of product and trade, and a guarantee (which a large industrial population in the North Island must necessarily give) of peace. But if the recently acquired Native lauds were transferred to Provincial control they would be forced upon the market and sold.