Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1879. THE LAND FOR THE PEOPLE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 9, 23 September 1879, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1879. THE LAND FOR THE PEOPLE.

# Th« motto at the head of this article, and its obverse, " The people for the land," exhibit the two great sources whence the future prosperity of New Zealand must and will result. The desire to acquire landed property is natural and universal. The hope of its gratification tempts emigrants from the Old World, and settlement upon the land is the spirit of colonisation. The rapid progress New Zealand has made since the inauguration of the Public Works policy is an evidence of the advantages that flow from rapid settlement. The development of rural districts has necessarily given momentum to the progress of towns, whilst new centres have been created, which have acted as feeders. Indeed, the results of Sir Julius Vogel's great scheme may be summed up in the settlement of the land, which means true, substantial progress. If the future is to witness the same prosperity," precisely the same cause must operate. Undoubtedly we have the land, but whence are we to get the people ?. and how are they to be settled upon the land ? To the first question the reply is generally made, we must import them. But whilst recogonising that a young country needs to be fed from without by immigration, we are convinced that in New Zealand there are even now thousands of men jostling and elbowing dne another in towns who would gladly, if able, settle upon land, and thus increase the yeomanry of the Colony. Let it be admitted that a prosperous rural population necessarily implies prosperous towns, and it is at once evident that our policy must be to attract every possible male adult from the towns into the country. If we develop the country, the towns will develop themselves. That our leading cities are over-populated is apparent. At Christchurch, Wellington, and Dunedin meetings of " the unemployed" have been held, and from private information we are aware that the distress through lack of employment is far greater than is supposed. If in Wellington applications are invited for a situation with even a low salary, scores respond. The lesson this undoubtedly teaches is, that our town population must be thinned. Looking to the future, we see agloomy prospect. A false, superficial, brainless pride is settling down upon the youth 4 of New Zealand, which will be the curse of the Colony. Although possessed of so extensive an area oi

. available land, wo are rearing a nai ion i of shopboys, counterjuniper.s, and ■ clerks. Tliat grand old English spirit , which glories in honest toil and the • " ;;weat of the brow," is being slowly ■ but surely destroyed in New Zealand. ; Physical labour is thought not respect- ' able ! Hence wo arc compelled to import labourers. Parents move heaven ! and earth to get their sons appointed a telegraph cadet at MO a year, or a Government billet at a nominal salary, or a situation as clerk ; and there are hundreds of men in our large towns eking out a " respectable " existence on far less wages than a navvy receives. Is not such a state of affairs rotten to the core? The " respectable " class we refer to will form the basis of our ne'er-do-wells and paupers in the future. In this country the men whose only stock-in-trade consists of the pen and a knowledge of the three E.s, will find themselves in a sorry fix before many years are past. The writer of this article lias in various parts of New Zealand come in contact with large numbers of immigrants who have in a few years changed from labourers and mechanics in l o prosperous landed proprietors. The secret of their siiceess has been in their working power. Having learned in a hard and bitter school the lessons of frugality and industry, having learned that in the land of the country lies latent wealth, they have aimed at becoming landed proprietors and have prospered. We are bold to say that if the history of a thousand immigrants were compared with that of the same number of colonial born men in towns during the past five years, it would bo found the former had prospered far beyond the latter. Therefore Aye feel that every effort should be made to destroy this insidiousspirit of foolish pride, and to induce the youths and young men frittering their lives away in towns to remove to the country, and settle on land. "We assert oiu 1 conviction that colonists have not benefitted in the past to the same extent as immigrants from the opening of the land. The 1 reason has been that many immigrants 1 who came out as agricultural laborers have been pushed into rural districts, where they have acquired small holdings, and have speedily risen. What we need to do, is to utilise to the fulli est degree, and in the best possible manner the population we now have, by turning consumers into producers. This leads to our second question, how are the people to be settled upon the land? The answer is simple. By offering them such terms as will induce settlement. Deferred payment blocks for small farms should bo set apart throughout the Colony. The time for payment should be extended over at least, ten years, and one-third of all land receipts should be spent under Government direction in opening up the land from which the revenue is derived. This . would afford employment to the settlers. Certain improvements should be insisted on, proportionate to the value and quality of the land, but discretionary power should be given to the Bangers or to the Besident Magistrates, to relax the conditions where any exceptional case occurred. Also, power should be given to Government to refund as a loan at a fair interest say one-third of the money paid in by a settler, if by so doing he would be able to work his land to better advantage. As showing the value of the deferred payment system, we may quote the following passage from the report of the Crown Lands Banger at Taranaki, with reference to the deferred payment portion of the Moa Block, sold in June, 1875. He says : — The total area of land sold on deferred payments on the portion I now report, on is 2057 acres. Of this, 518 acres have been cleared and grassed, or equal to 25 per cent, of the whole ; the total value of improvements in clearing, building and fencing being £3362. Within tho same portion of the district 56"8 acres have been sold for cash; of which 961 acres have been cleared and grassed, or equal to 17 per cent. ; the value of improvements, including clearing, beiug £7022 ; the total vaJue of improvements on deferred payment and cash lands now reported on being £9384. lv the portion of the Moa District reported on in May last, the improvements made to that time were estimated at £7551. Since that time, and up to the present, quite £1500 has been spent in building, fencing, and feeing. These amounts, added to ihe ' estimate of the block I now report on — i viz., £9384— give a tottil of £18,435 as the l value of improvements made on the portion . of the Moa Block sold in 1875. These improvements, made within four years, in a district consisting entirely of bush lands (tho timber being of the heaviest description), the roads being almost impassable [ for at least six months in tho year, reflect great credit on the settlers in the district, ' and give promise that in the future this will become one of the most prosperous districts in the Colony. It also speaks for- . cibly for the advantages of the deferred payment system, that in the large majority 1 of cases the deferred payment allotments are held by laboring men (more than half i of them immigrants, brought here during . the past four years), who commenced improving their allotments in advance of the 1 cash purchasers, and who in the majority of cases were the first to occupy their i lands by actual residence." A further plan would be to lay off ■ large farms adjoining small farm deferred payment blocks, as the large owner's -would in all probability be i capitalists, and thus capital and la- ■, bour would be side by side. That such inducements as we have ; suggested would induce settlement , we verily believe. Well do we re- ' member the interest created in Wel- ■ lington ten years ago at the organi isation of the Hutt Small Farm > Association, for settlement at Sandon. l How that has prospered, in the face f of tremendousdifficultiesjweallknow.

Were half a dozen other such blocks laid oil" in tho magnificent country between Foxton and Paikakariki, on such terms as we have suggested, we are confident they would bo settled by a sturdy yeomanry, and in a few years would teem with a prosperous population. We would urge upon the Government that any blocks of land upon this coast available for settlement, and the purchase of which are completed, should be tlirown open upon the small farm system, without waiting years for a railway. If we remember rightly, it has been stated in Parliament that the Government own a million of acres on this Coast. Why, then, should it be locked up for years more ? We have read carefully the eloquent orations ..Sir George Grey made in Canterbury upon the land laws. With him we long to see a frugal, prosperous population upon the unoccupied lands of the Colony. We point to the lands in this rich County upon which the Crown has a lien, and we would ask him in the name of the unemployed, in the name of the young men wasting their strength in towns, and in the name of the setlers of Manawatu to reduce his ideas to practice, and throw open the splendid, rich, fertile lands lying on this coast between the sea beach and the Tararua Ranges.