The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1908. LAND SETTLEMENT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2213, 10 June 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1908. LAND SETTLEMENT.

The vexed question as to the best method of settling the people on the 1 md appears to be troubling Victorian legislators at the present time. With immigration schemes pending, and with 'farmers and their sons finding difficulty in proouring land at prices as tempting as those offered in larger and less developed states, it ilias come to be admitted that in areas still unalienated there is not sufficient opportunity foil' the populaion of “close-settled” farmers which Victoria ought to attract and to bold. According to the Melbourne “Argus” it is generally agreed that on many large estates near centres of population, and within easy roach of railways or railway routes, national development now requires that there should be a transition from a condition of pasturage on wide areas to one of agriculture or dairying on small blocks. To some extent this transition is already taking place without legislative intervention, for many largo land-holders, on acres where only sheep, ran before, have been establishing tenants on terms eminently satisfactory to both sides. At the same tamo the Government is wisely 'keeping in view the resources of lands still virgin, and by, means of railway and irrigat:on schemes promises to open nii now provinces for settlement. In pioneering there must be still greit chances an a country which •as yet has only 14 people to the square mile, (but Victoria also needs in addition to pioneers the application of agricultural and dairying industry in places so far used for grazing alone. The ideal of close set-

stantly before his eyes. A thriving population of fanners means wealth to all classes. AV/h-at the state is looking for now is a fair, practical, and honest means of coming nearer ,to the ideal. In seeking this (ideal the Victorian .Government has for some years been using .its purse to promote closer settlement by buying estates from private owners and selling them in subdivided areas to small holders. The estates, with one exception, have been sold voluntarily. Where the owner’s 'inclinations would not come lr.tc harmony with national need there has been a deliberate and sufficient instrument of compulsion in a resolution of both Houses of Parliament. A practical consideration has caused this system to reach the limit of its usefulness—the .Government has not been able to find the money which would be necessary for settlement on .a large scale. Now the Victorian Minister of Agriculture, Mr Swinburne, has outlined a now scheme. He proposes that where large holdings are suitable for closer cultivation the owner should make them .available, receiving from the settlers placed upon them payment spread over ta period of years. The state would guarantee those payments, but would be relieved of the task of finding money in millions for the immediate purchase of the land. There lie a good deal to be said in favor of the principle of till© scheme, which is entirely opposed to the confiscatory methods so greatly favored in this country, but not until the scheme- is revealed in further detail shall we be able to judge of its practical value.