Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, MONDAY, MAY 4, 1863.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 112, 4 May 1863, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, MONDAY, MAY 4, 1863.

If there is one thing more than another which particularly attracts people’s attention just now it is the subject of “ Small Farm Settlements.” This particular hind of settlement has become a kind of bugbear, which

is being continually, but at held up to frighten quiet, well-disposed, and most thorough-going anti-population sheepfarmers out of their respectable and profitable propriety. But although we, in common with the rest of mankind, have heard a great deal of talk about these “ Small Farm Settlements,” we have never yet heard any very satisfactory definition attempted as to what that interesting article may properly be. We fear much that it is, after all, only a party war cry, or .probably a mere cant expression made use of with or -without occasion by a popularity-hunting local politician.

We will, however, set aside tlie unsatisfactory notions of this particular kind of settlement in question entertained by the unsophisticated million, and at once endeavor, as far as we are able, to give our enquiring readers an idea of what a “ Small Farm Settlement” ought to be, and not what it is. This last state ~we believe it would be beyond the power of mortal man to describe, or in fact to form any conception of, for we are not aware that anything of the kind exists at this date, although we are aware, as we said before, that there has been abundance of talk about it.

In short, the best way to get a country without inhabitants inhabited is to set aside all the really cultivatable ground out of the reach of those patriotic gentlemen whose notions of progress and population consist in first selling the laud to themselves at a nominal figure, and at a wholesale rate, and then retailing that valuable article to any customer who may chance to turn up, at a mere advance of say .£IOOO per centum ! but no more at present. That state of things, we need hardly say, is by no means conducive to the advancement of Colonies, nor is it altogether consistent with our preconceived ideas of the impartial manner in which the Waste Lands ought to be disbursed. If it should ever be the good fortune of the Government of this Province to get a block of land really worth the having at any time into their possession, it is most devoutly to be wished that they will at once place that land in commission, and remove it at once out of the hands of an irresponsible administration, without which precaution the people’s property will vanish into oblivion, or rather into the oblivious interests of some fortunate speculators, just the same "way as all the rest of our little public domain has gone. But to the point. The point is this, — having got the land, divide it into lots, the value of which should be carefully fixed at a rate judged by reference to the situation and quality, But it is not for one moment to be supposed that all these nice lots wall fall into the hands of men who are able at once to invest a sufficient sum of money in the reclamation of the land from a state of nature so as to transform it into a carefully cultivated pasture. No ; these sort of colonists are rare ; and therefore a provision must be made to enable the occupant of any given lot a means of getting a living, and adding to his capital while he gradually improves his land. We almost all of us know what a tedious, expensive, and anxious affair this is. In order to secure our “ small farmer” from a mere miserable vegetable existence, we must provide him with a place whereon he

may keep some cattle and horses, in number proportionate to the quantity of acres of land held by him. Thus wo at once secure our farmer in comparative ease, and place him on a footing which will, if he be a sober, industrious man, enable him to hold up his head with the conscious pride of “ glorious independence.” Without this accessory to the small-section-holders holding they cannot prosper. Mere agricultural farming—that is, raising of grain and such like, will not do. The markets are very variable in price, and very uncertain altogether, and labor is very high and always will be very high, and he who is dependent entirely upon it will come to grief, no matter though he rise up early and lie down late, eating the bread of carefulness. We will not enter into statistical calculation of the number of acres or the number of cattle to be allotted to each individual. The details of a scheme must be worked out when the time for that scheme to ripen into maturity arrives. Besides, if for no other reason, we avoid figures because we happened in the course of our editorial labors to fall in with the alarming statistic furnished by Mr. J. A. Smith (M.P.E., M.P.C., J.P., for Napier) for the edification and mystification of his brethren in Council. The contemplation of that great effort of mind so got the better of our calculating faculty in consequence of the startling facts therein disclosed, arrived at no doubt after incredible labor and research, that really we have many doubts at present ranging our—but for the untoward event in question—usually comprehensive mind whether two and two make four, or whether, if the two first numerals be added together they do not make six. We, however, as is our wont in times of difficulty, refer this puzzling matter to the calm consideration of our estimable friend and highly valued fellow laborer in the vineyard of politics the Editor of the Hawke’s Bay Herald. The decision of that surpassing genius shall be final.