BACK BLOCKS REQUIREMENTS.
DOUBLY-EARNED INCREMENT. MR C. K. WILSON'S SPEECH. [llY TKLKGBAT'ir.—I'RKSS ASSOCIATION'.] Wellington, Thursday. Mr C. K. Wilson, M.P. for Taumarunui, made a plea for the back blocks settler in the course of his speech on the Budget in the Hou3: of Representatives to-night. Mr Wilson said ho was known as the "elect of the cow cocky," and he was going to lay their conditions of life before hon. members. Ho would like to tako some of tho member's who went about town with patent leather bouts through his electorate. He drew a picture of tho trials of people who lived in the back blocks, and who had to pack their food through bush, and take their families out in a similar way, riding from 20 to .SO miles an lowering themselves to their sections by supplejacks. Somo of these settlers, said Mr Wilson, had 14 children, and that was the class of settler they wanted. They did not cater for them, however. They heard a lot about the unearned increment, but what he was referring to wa3 the doubly-earned increment. What they should do was to cut up the estates near the railways, and put poor men on that. He did not believe they had reached nearly the top price for good land. If the Govenment was not out for land settlement they could not stay on the Treasury benches for six months.
Mr Wilson made a strong plea for roada in the back blocks, and stated that thousands of pounds had been wasted for years on roads through lack of energy. He quoted one ease where £17,000 had been spent on five miles of road in three years and now the road was axle deep in mud. Education in the back blocks, said Mr Wilson, was another grievance. The children were taught in tents, 20 to 30 in each tent, up to their ankles in mud at times. Our education wa3 the grandest in the world, but it was for the towns, and not for the country.
Mr Wilson also dealt with the native lands question, holding that they must bring the natives into line with the Europeans, and get them to bear their share of the burdens of the Administration of the country.
Mr Wilson complimented tho Minister for Finance on producing a [Budget which mußt commend itself to every Liberal in the community.
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King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 492, 17 August 1912, Page 5
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398BACK BLOCKS REQUIREMENTS. King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 492, 17 August 1912, Page 5
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