THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1870.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 639, 22 February 1870, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1870.

The County Qoimcil has decided that for. $he present it is not desirable to make any radical change in the land system of the County, and has instructed its Solicitor, to. prepare a draft Bill, based upon the existing regulations, to, b$ submitted \o, the General Assembly next session. It is just possible that the Council may be fight in its decision, but in the absence of any conclusive evidence of thp fact we cannot accept the conclusion arrived at. We are still disposed to hold the. opinion $hat special inducements, exceeding any that the present regulations afford, are needed to secure, to Westland a large permanently settled population. Oue objection, that we have heard influenced the late Committee, in making the recommendation they did, is that by making any large, reduction iv the price of the waste lands, or in adopting the leasing system, the County would derive only a small direct revenue from the disposal of its land, and would not be able to execute those works which are required to make the land tenantable. No doubt there is considerable force in this objection, seeing that West 1 and has no opportunity of parrying out. public works by means of money borrowed for an extended period. But it must not be forgotten that the sale of land, at even the present high price, will still not supply the County with the necessary means for systematically opening up the country. The l?nds hitherto sold have been scattered blocks, rewrote, fiom pach other, the mmiey received from which is utterly inadequate to the cost of the roads and o.tiier wqrks. that are reQuired to make them conveniently accessible. It is absolutely necessary that funds for opening up the country must to a very large extent be supplied from o,ther sources of revenue than, the mere sale of the land. Westland must either enjoy the advantages of receiving a large sum of borrowed money secured upon its genera,!

revenue, or it must endeavor to imyiase }is own annual income. The probability of tlie County being able to obtain a loan for publip works is a question of go much , doubt, g,nd depending upon so many cirr cumstanees entirely disconnected with the interests of the County itself, that we may for the present treat it as pne that should not influence the action of the Council, but should bo regarded as a doubtful and remote contingency. The great question for Westland is,— rhow best to settle the land, and in that question are involved two yery important considerations. These aro first, what terms would attract settlers ; and second, how to provide the means for opening up the country by means flf roads. These questions are j greatly dependent upon each other, and the latter will b,o all the easier solved by a solutipn of the former. That the more land we sell the more money we shall have for public works from the proceeds of such sale is, of course, a self-evident proposition, but we hold that the price of the land, at even double the present rate, would not suffice, unless - the demand were more extensive and general than it is, or is likely tq be under qu» present system. Taking into consideration the costs of survey and administration the direct land revenue pf Westland cannot become equal to the work pf opening up the country, and is so small as hardly to be worth a consideration, But indirectly the settlement of the lands at almost any price whatever, does contribute to the revenues of the country. Every additional permanent settler that can be attracted to the County is worth at least seven or eight pounds per annum in taxation alone, to say nothing of his value as a creator of national capital. And every additional 3ettler reduces the proportion of the tasatipn whiph is. necessary for the administration of govprnment. The difference to the County between keeping the land locked up, and even giving it away to those who. will settle upon it may be "put — ronghiy thns :— rQne~~ hundreelacres of land, valued at the. present price, LI per acre, LIOO, Upon this land we will suppose to be settled five persons, viz., a man, his wife, two children, and a labourer. These five persons would contribute, indirectly to the revenue fully L 7 per head, making an annual income of L3.q, representing au increase of the capital of the country of say LSOO for all time. By giving away the laud therefore the country woqld be getting a high price for it. Of course- this, argument would not hold good unless it were admitted {-hat the land cannot be sold at the existing high price. We are satisfied that some very much more liberal plan of disposal must be adopted if Westland is ever to become a settled part of the Colony. The necessity for greater liberality in our land : system becomes all the greater from the fact that we have very great competition close to our doors. We have before us the regulaiiom just issued by the Otago Government for the settlement and disposal nf lands at Martin's Bay, under the "Otago Settlements Act, 18G9." The nature of the country is exactly similar to that of Westland, the only condition in which this County possesses an advantage bein^ the existence of a local market for produce. For the information of our readers we will mentipn the principal features of these regulations :-rThe land at Martin's Bay is divided into four classes— A, B, C, and D. Class A consists of allotments of 50 acres each to be given under free prants to every applicant who having first received a certificate of occupation shall have resided two years out of a period of tfrree years. Ho will also be allowed to purchase one town section for every allotment held, at the nominal price of £2 10s. Class B comprises laud to be scld at 53 per acre to the extent of not more than 4QQ a,pres to each person. Glass Cis land to be sold in quantities of not more than 500 acres to any occupier at 10s per acre. Class D comprises all mineral lands which are to be disposed of under special conditions, In Westland the lowest price for rural land is £1 per acre, and it is therefore not surprising that already the terms of the Otago Government are attracting settlers frqm Westland. The Waipara on its last trip south took several men who had gone down for the purpose of selecting land. Tho, competition we shall have in that quarter should not be disregarded, and we hope that before the next session of the County Council public attention will be thoroughly aroused to the question, and that public opinion will be widely expressed so as to induce the Council to approve of some liberal land law suited to the country and the requhrorqents of the population.