Mr J. G. Wilson's Speech on the Financial Debate.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 18 July 1891, Page 2

Mr J. G. Wilson's Speech on the Financial Debate.

— -♦•• ...... , Ido not propose to go . into tha speeches -which tiave' been delivered by honourable members who have preceded me, but I should like to make a few remarks with regard to the Financial Statement itself, and one or two other points. Anl first, with regard to the settlement *of the land. I was very glad during the recess to meet the Minister'of Lands up in our district, ami I was also very glad to find that during hia journeyings through the North Island he had gained considerable experience of our requirements. No doubt the honourable gentleman pli^dy knew a good deal. about the Siou^U, lsland ; but I was glad to find tUat.vfh'ep, he came back to our district after going through the aqrtheTOnPprtion of this Island he was : able,itQ7jieU us that what we wanted was> rpads.. I am pleased; ralso, ? to find in the . Financial Statementit :is ,^so: -proposed to give, us ;rol|e| i;v,J>ha& #h' ec ' tion ; for what we really want aro roads, There are, however, some matters in connection with this subject of land' settlement with Which I do not agrao, and more especially one which is of great iuterest on the West Coastf of this Island. I refer to the new regulations for special The fact of the^matter is that those regulations have stopped all settlement on our coast, A great number pf were desirous of taking up^l^|t^^er;tttfef^^fflulat'ons have beehpr^ve)ii^d|K^^foi»Q; so 'by the isfcfie bi Ihese tions. Maay^6n-tdY)){^ip||^^ under the oldspecial settle meptii System which enabled them t6obtfti|s^ freehold, who tjiiherwisW would jtojijihave done so ; and the present Mihister'of Lands has done away with JalU benefit in that direction. *:■;'"■■s I Mr .'. McKenzie.— l oain get 'plenty of settlers. • ; ' J Mr Wilson.— Yes », the • flilihister says he can get plenty of Settlers, I will tell him what they the $d think about it. I met a settler!;. nipt: long ago, who had applied for: a piece of land under thksettlemenit.f .fife said " I do not approve* of the^peirpetuai lease, but I"; suppose thi& Ministry will not last long, and then we shall get freehold tenure." .Jluttlie honourable gantlen\an\ayß\ iti&tjtt the old system is continued 'ttferfwiU still be considerable speculation. I am not prepared to say that speculation was not earned out under it. Still I know that a number of settle- * ments bavo been established under it. In fact I started some of these settlements myself, and they- are now very prosperous. I have a list of the members of qne,of, 1 th i p,se 1 settle- • ments— the Sancton' Special Settlement. I asked the secretary, before I came here, to give me a list of the members : belonging to r • itf: * ■ ' I "may : 3ay, that I know, practically almost ' every man whose name appears in this list, and I say that the honourable gentleman, if he thinks these men who desired -to take up this land were speculators, is entirely mistaken. In many bases ttieite' fnen found that they could not reside on the land, because there were no roads, -no schools, and rJion^ «of the ordinary conveniences which might be expected in, such, seJitlem^fltiy If the honourable gentleman 'likes to see this list, I can show it to him, and I can :tell him also who each selector is, and what is his occupation. I assure him the are not speculators but bona fide settlers. He also says that there is no "reason why special advantages : sh6til4 be given to them— that under the Rand Act they can get the tehtfcfe: i i&ey want. Now, the great advantage that I can see in the special-settle-ment is that when a man applies for a piece of land he has an absolute certainty of getting a section ; there is no doubt about that. But then a man must take his chance by ballot and if he is unfortunate enough to be last on tho list he has to put >up with the very worst section. I know of some instances in which the land was so rough that the selector was unable to occupy it. That is one of the great drawbacks thai are complained of — that is to say that there is nothing to insure the man obtaining a piece of good land. Yet 'for the small and doubtful advantage 1 of being certain of a section, the new regulations take from the getters the right to the freehold ; tenure to which they attach so much importance. In Palmerston and in vthe surrounding district there-are 'a-Jfery large number of settlers . whb; [desire to take up land under this special settlement system. I see*' ithsfrfMr Marsh, an officer of the department — the official connected with the special settlement — was interviewed'! 'Nt Ghristchurch the other cja^j^ad^e is reported to have said i^repiy to the query, " How about these three hundred settlers at Pahtterston North who wonld not take up laiitJ ' under the new regulations ? " they were all speculators but two* Now^ this information must have : - been' sap-

plied to him by someone, probably by the Minister: cf Lands himself. Mr J, MaKenzie.- 1 told them that a large number of them were ; and it was reported in the Lyttelton Times, information having come from the Inspector of Village Settlements. '' Mr Wilson. —Well, Sir, he said that only two were bona fide settlers , out of the whole lot. Now, I have taken the trouble to procure a list of - these settlers, and I have this list now before me. It contains 58 names and \fcheir desire was to take up land had the Minister given way. on the subject of freehold tenure. I shall not trouble the House with reading these names, but I can assure the honourable gentleman that I know every one of the men, and all about them ; and I know their occupations. Mr J. McKenzie. — The whole five hundred ? Mr Wilson — I did not say five hundred, I there are two hundred who wish to take up land. , I was giving one or two particular instances of men in one particular^ settlement. Th?re are fifty-eight of them who belong to a small settlement known as Campbelltown. The name of: every one of these settlersappears in this list, and also his ocpecupation, and I shall be happy to hand the list over to the honourable gentleman for his information. I « merely, wish to show, in connection with this, that the official down south, had no reason whatever to make the statement which he is said to have made officially —namely that these men who were prepared to take up land in this part of the country* were merely speculators. There were three other settlement associations in the Palmerston district, and* I have a list of the names of the people cennacted with those also; and I aan assured by those who know the circumstances that the most of them are small Scandinavian settlers who wish'd to take up holdings for themselves and their children. Around Palmerston a large number of public works have been going on, and a number of these Scandinavians have settled on small sections in the vicinity in order to take advantage of that work. They have very small sections, and now their families are growing up, they wish to have the advantage under this system of getting more laud for. themselves. As a consequence, they have been very itiu'eh dissappointed at the answer Siven by the Minister of Lands. I iifferstand .that, from the Minister's own statements he does not intend to. give way in this matter. I am quite sure that, -if that is his determinaton,,itwillnotbe in the inof honaflde settlement in this AAolonyr, There is another matter in with the same subject to "~ which t Wish to refer. I may tell honourable members that there has been a ver^ large amount of talk about these land regulations in the Palmerston district, and the Chamber of Commerce at Palmerston have had the: matter under their consideration in order to see if they could induoe the Minister to reconsider his decision,. That Chamber of Commerce, is an influential and represen tfttiye body .in, the district, and it discussed very carefully the subject of these new regulations. I have a list of the members who were present at that meeting, Mr Hawkins presiding. ' Having discussed the question of these regulations, and having come to the conclusion that it would be against the interest of legitimate settlement to take away the freehold tenure they wrote to the Minister, asking him to reconsider his decision. Well, Sir, in his reply the Minister asked for a list of the mem-, bers of the Chamber who were present, at : this meeting, and who passed the : resolution which formed the substance of the letter that was addressed to him. I have the list of those Members before me, and I can give it b4m .; but I know he dbes' not want it. At any; rate, I. made in,Quiry, and I.fqund that ,none of ,the members who were .present at;, that .meeting were directly connected .with these land settlement associations. '; /■'■ :: ' <■';: . ' '■ ■ •; : ; : !. > v (To.be continued.) : ;