The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1892. Land Settlement

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 87, 21 January 1892, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1892. Land Settlement

♦ By a Government return of land taken up for settlement under the various Bystems for the nine monthß of the financial year, frhich we published in detail in our last issue, we were informed that 1378 selectors had taken up 541,590 acres. Than this there can be no greater proof of the rapid strides in the direction of prosperity this colony is making. The figures speak for themselves. They indicate that notwithstanding the alleged mismanagement of the Ministry, a far seeing and industrious class of men have an abiding faith in the happy future of the colony, and in their ability to create comfortable homes for themselves. They also indicate that no matter which party " Whig or Tory " occupies the Treasury Benches and enjoys the emvoluments thereof, New Zealand pursues " the even tenor of her way " notwithstanding the prophesies of dire disaster uttered by those members of Parliament who have accustomed themselves to look upon the fact of their being relegated to the cool shades of the Opposition as a public calamity. It would seem that in spite of both parties the country is forging ahead on a sea of prosperity. In order to prove the success of Lord Salisbury as Prime Minister, a writer in the Edinburgh Review says of Ireland: — "As regards Ireland we may apply what test we choose. In every direction statistics prove the increased prosperity of the people ; increase of business on the Irish railways, both as regards passengers and goods ; increased balances in Irish banks ; an increase of some 25 per cent in the last five years shown in the balances of Irish savings banks; agrarian crime diminished by one half, evictions greatly decreased in number, and boycotting almost wholly abolished. Irish tenants have, by the Land Act, obtained pecuniary advantages not enjoyed by any other class of men, either in England or any other part of the world. The Congested Districts Board has been established and endowed for consolidating small holdings, assisting emigration or migration, and the development of native industries. Some of our contemporaries are complaining that the Government are showing no desire to assist " the working men" by lowering the Customs duties levied en the necessaries of life. We would advise them to "bide a wee" for as soon as "the working men " as represented by the Knights of Labor and Trade Unions, think they want this concession they will give their orders to the Ministry and the thing will be done.