Page 4 Advertisements Column 4

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1999, 7 February 1907, Page 4

ON THE LAND. SOME TROUBLES OF TTIE SETTLER. “How c.'.ii you people who live in the towns anil cities know anything about tlio condition of things in the , country?” asked a settler of a Post, reporter the other day. Tho query seemed a reasonable one, and as no reply was given, tho settler went on to say a good many things about the life that he and his have to put up with, especially in tho hack blocks, and the direction in which their desires lie. That led tho pressman to making some more extended enquiries, and as ill every case the settlors approached were pioneers ol bush districts now approaching something like close settlement and a cleared condition, their expression may bo regarded as representative of a class. Dealing first with tho Land Bill, thoro certa inly apnea red to be a concensus of opinion in favor of tho freehold, or, at tho least, of tho optional system. “I have boon on bush land for twenty-five years, and do not suppose that I would have undergone all thoso hardships if T had not.' had tho freehold to look forward to? Not a bit of it.” Ho went on to urgo that no ono would care about going on bush land if he only had a leashold ; not that there was any objection to tho leasehold as a form of tenure, but when a man got on to the land his natural desire —the desire inherent in tho human mind—was to got tho land for his “very own,” as the children say. Besides, another stated,_ under the present system the man without capital who takes up bush land (and no ono with capital takes up bush land) is very seriously handicapped by tho moro fact of his being a leaseholder. Ono of those spoken to held a loaso One of thoso spoken to held a 999 years lease, and lie claimed that he was far worse off than the mail who had the option of purchase, even though the latter paid 1 per cont. moro by way of rent. The mere fact of his having tho option enabled him to go to tho bank and obtain an overdraft, so that lie could at' oneo let a contract, say, for buslifallmg, or purchasing stock, knowing that interest would only bo charged on tho amount actually overdrawn. Ho argued that oven if ho had to pay G per cent., as against tho 5 per cent, charged by the Advances to Settlers Department, tlio overdraft system was the cheaper. In the first place, the holder of a loaso in perpotuity could not got. a bank overdraft, and had to go to the Advances to Settlers Department, and lie could not get a ponny to help him to make his land productive until ho had carried out, improvements of a certain value. Even then it almost invariably happened that the department offered iiim less than lie was entitled to, but, being in need, he had tb take it. Instead, however, of only paying interest—as under the overdraft- system—oil the amount actually- overdrawn, and as long as tlio account was overdrawn—-he had to take tho lump sum, which ho genera Hy was unable to expend all at onco, and pay interest on it from the commencement.

And this led up to another grievance—that of valuation. The tenant was not consulted about the value put upon his land, there was no appeal from the valuer’s decision, and the tenant was not even able to have his interests represented when the valuation was being made. In fact, ono settler vent so far as to assert posi tively that there are three distinct' valuations made—one for loans, one for rent, and another for rates. That, lie said, the department had time and again denied, lint' lie declared that he could prove it beyond the shadow of a doubt. Then there was the question of roads—a subject on which the bush settler invariably waxes eloquent and frequently indulges in strong language. When the rental of a section is fixed it is loaded with an extra amount for roads—about 2s Sd an acre—on which interest lias to be paid for all time. In many cases the roods are not made for years, and the settlor has to cut a tiaek to his section and put up with that primitive means of communication until the authorities do him a certain measure ol justice and form a road. That is all right ill the summer, but in winter they are impassable for months at a time, and it is only once in a while that The settler can reach even the confines of civilisation. One case was mentioned where a man lias been fifteen years on his section, and has net yet. got a metalled road to it. That ease is by no means isolated; there are dozens of them all over the North Island.

Apart from the physical discomforts thereby involved—and they can only be fully appreciated by those who have experienced them—there is one which appeals forcibly to the settler who has children, 'that is the difficulty of having them educated. One settler only a few miles from a flourishing township has a family of about half a dozen, who have practical! y never been- to school. Once, some years ago, the man and his wife got knocked up through overwork, and had to go away for a few weeks’ change. During that period their little boy went to a kindergarten; that is all the schooling he has had during the fifteen and a half years of his life, except what his father has been able to give him in regard to practical matters and knowledge iie himself imbibed during a life of hard work. No wonder he declaimed fiercely against the system which permitted such a state of things. He, a hard-working settler, anxious to giro his children a good education, could not get a school within reach, while people in the towns, with schools at frequent intervals, had to be fined for . not’ sending their children to school.

Tilrnin" again to the subject of the I,and Bill, one found a certain amount of dissatisfaction ivitli tile proposal to convert sixteen and a half million acres into a national endowment for old age pensions, education, and so on. The chief objection appeared to arise from a belief that the system of leasing, under which endowment lands have been leased in tho past, lias been unsatisfactory, and that, the same system should not ho perpetuated in connection with such a huge area of land. That opinion was uttered by an old settler who has had a large experience- of endowment lands, and lie declared positively that unless some change was made, the proposal would meet with strong opposition. If anything, tho strongest opposition was directed against the periodical re-valuation proposals of the Bill, and the general opinion was that under such a system the settlement of the land would he greatly retarded. No man, they urged, would caie to take up land if, after spending nearly a lifetime improving it, lie would he compelled to compete against himself for the purpose of retaining it, or else to let it go from him; nor did lie like to think that, even if lie passed away before tho expiration of the term, Iris successors would he placed in a similar position of hardship. ‘‘We shall oppose that tooth and nail,” was the general cr;,. This led to another discovery. There is, it appears, a good deal of distrust of the Land Board, not, perhaps, so much for what it docs, as for what it

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