KIRITEHERE ROADS A.E.L. RETURNS TO THE CHARGE.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 352, 6 March 1908, Page 3

KIRITEHERE ROADS A.E.L. RETURNS TO THE CHARGE.

(TO THE EDITOK.) Sir, —Since my last letter I have bad many ack me thia question : If I carry out the programme laid down in that letter will it not mean an attack on the settlers and tend to do them and the district an injury ? To allay fears of that kind I will somewhat change the sequence of what I intend to say and deal now with my conversation with Mr Robinson and wbat it wasall about. My statement that aettlers exploited the Government, etc., had do special reference to Kiritehere or its set’lets, nor was it an attack on bona fide settlers anywhere, and that can be plainly seen from the context. 1 attacked as I have done for years, the ballot system of land settlement, particularly in uuroaded rough country, and not individuals who legally take all the advantage they can under that stupid system ; and now I’m started on this subject I’ll go further with it, although it is breaking away from what I have in band. At the time ot the t-ettl xnem of the Kiog Country 1 held very strongly to the opinion, and

since then whenever occasion arose freely expressed it, that the ballot system was uot one under which settlers should be put on tbo class of country Government bad «o deal with here, at any rate as the system whs then administered, and events since the ballet have confirmed me m that opinion. Some exeu->e can be made fora ballot when the land to be (akin up is improved land, or even for mode-rate-sized unimproved sections in

particular localities, when the applicants are suitable and their means sufficient, but to- ballot for land in blocks or 4CO or 500 to 1000 or 1500 acres of unroadtd rough buck country, without a-jy regard to the fitness or means of the applicant is a mad way to settle a country. It issue ialism of a sort much mure revolution ary than scientific in spite Sir Joseph’s protest. Exit nd ihe same prin ciple, put the high « fficea ot State, or say, the Premiership iuelt, <o the ballot, wbat nt>me would S>r Joseph find forii? In the interest of the district

and of the Dominion, a large area of 1 should be banded over only to enable men, and men in a position to work it. Such laud should be considered a trust, a sacred trust, from the Government to the individual who should honestly develops and improve it, or else make room for another. On the other hand it should be recognised that the owner or occupier in his efforts to develope ibat land should be helped iu every reasonable way. Ibe lieve the time is not far distant when the Government will insist that land owners improve and work their holdings, no matter under wbat title it is held —for an owner to allow his land to lie idle or waste for speculative purpt ses is deliberately to rob his neighbours and spoil his district. Under the ballot of course men wbomake good settlers some 1 imes win, and there is little to be said, but mure often such men are squeezed out by a crowd of speculators, incompetents or wasters who never have any intention of settling or working the laud if they can ayoid it, whose sole object, if they should draw a section, is to get away with a big cheque wrung from some bona five settler as soon a* roads and eetdemet-t enhance the value of their

holding**. It may b ; that a good man but with small means, draws one of these large sections, but the handicap is coo large for the ordinary man, ano before long be will be found working on the roads for a living— not a desir able position for a large krd owner to occupy. There is no occasion to denounce speculation in is nd ; there is no reason why a man should not im prove bis position in that way, if be can, so long as be acts fairly with the land and his fellow settlers by effecting

improvements, and few will grudge him the unearned increment. But though we may look complacent y at land speculating under such conditions Do good reason can be advanced for the way our Crown lands are dealt with, viz : a value is put on them far below their value when the Isnd is roaded, then balloted for, and after an expenditure of public money on roads and bridges the speculator can pick up a cheque lor the value the roads have pul on his land—an amount be hasdonelittleor nothing toearn, except perhaps join an agitation :for greater public expenditure. I assert that, thanks to the ballot, people have exploited the Government to the tune of thousands and thousands of pounds. I have to admit that in some cases the working settler unfortunately has derived but little benefit from this source —his struggles with bad tracks before the roads reached him meat necessarily cause him much trouble and loss. The remedy to try mind is plain: Government should first form the main arterial roads, then sell the land under the deferred payment system : from tbe proceeds there would

be sufficient money to complete the roads without further call on tbe public exchequer, and the settlers and districts would be the gainers. I know ‘he objections mads to the D.P. system ; that settlers in their engerness to obtain sections they wanted bid more than they could afford, that in tbe Wellington Province Government hnd to come to the relief of some of the D P. settlers during a period of bad times bpt set against the successful D.P. Betllexnents and the many advantages that can be urged for that system,this objection is not really serious. I have much more I would like to say under this heading, but must finish somewhere, /s I turned my flood of gUiyur* on Mr Robinaon. it it» quite

possible,and I daresay excusable, if be mistook my philippic that was of a ri-ry general nature and applied it to a particular ease. I stated facts that I have heaps of figures behind to prove if necessary. Mr Robinson drew bis own inferences. I was not advised that my statement or name would be used, and certainly object to being drawn into a dispute without my consent, but as it appears to have been done as a set-off to what I consider an unfair attack on a man I know, I am quite satisfied to let it go. I will try to close this correspondence by one more letter in which J shall deal with the statements and comments of Messrs Gregg and Ross.—Youth, etc., A. E. LANGLEY.