The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1892.

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 147, 9 June 1892, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1892.

It would appear that the exodus from this colony still continues. Captain Russell, we are informed by the Napier Telegraph, in his speech at t Hastings on Saturday, referred to tho fact that the political party now in power charged the policy of the late Government with being tho cause of , the exodus of population. Captain Bussell asked whether the exodus had ceased with the change of Ministry, and with the change of policy ? and he answered " No, it certainly had not." He proved his contention by figures quoted from the Gazette. He further asked, " How comes it that there is 80 much work for the Labour i Bureau — a too palpable and lamentr able fact, for which the Government s stupidly and ignorantly claim a large 1 amount of credit — and that population f is being driven from the country by this Government faster than ever it J was driven before? There must be a cause for this- What is that cause? 1 The cause is that the Government, by their threatened injurious legislation, have driven capital from the country, produced a cessation of enterprise, ' and a consequent dearth of employ- . ment. If this is not so, how otherwise do they account for the double loss of population since they took office?" On the land settlement question Captain Russell in his Hastings speech said his colleague, Mr Richardson, had been spoken of as the " Minister against Lands," but here were some figures. During 1891, 573 cash settlers, 258 deferred payment, and 788 perpetual leaseholders, making a total of 1619, had been placed on the land. The present Ministry were credited with pushing settlement more than their predecessors had ever done. For the past year the number of people who settled was 1557, against 1619 of the previous year, so there were sixtytwo more under Mr Richardson's regime, nothwithstanding all the talk about what the present Government was doing for the people. He desired to giva them a little advice, more as a friend than a politician. Let every young men set a desire to get a perpetual lease of 200 acres, with a purchasing clause. Let them not be foolish to clear the wilderness for those settlers who came after them, but get the right of freehold, because he spoke from many years' experience in farming. The following are the traffic returns for the Napier-Taranaki section for the period from the Ist to 30th April, 1892 (30 days) and for the corresponding period in 1891 (25 days).

Passengers in 1892 : 62,130 ; in 1891 : 39,859. We understand that Mr John Stevens interviewed the Ministry in Wellington, and received a promise of support from them in his candidature for the Eaagitikei seat.

1892 1891 Passengers 8252 14 8 5201 19 6 Parcels 835 0 8 607 4 9 Goods 7132 19 7 6429 1 7 Miscellaneous 549 8 10 466 12 0 £16.770 3 9 £12,704 17 10