The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1895. Village Settlements.

Manawatu Herald, 25 May 1895, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1895. Village Settlements.

Under this heading an account, rather a bare one, is given in the Review of Reviews of Village Settle,ments inoSotith- A.UBtfalia^hiQhjflie Hon. Mr Reeves has visited, and has staie'lT* s; theii^.fpaitieih *#ad most hopeful and promising, and if these settlements succeeded', and he believed they would, they would in at'tfadt wMti atufdtits J&toSdi' paufciv of.tJie tofcldv'* -We do not suppose that Mr Reeves was indulging in a sly joke, but it sounds : like it, especially. the "if these set- - tlements succeeded." Our South ' Australian relations appear to think, : « equally wifrh : our owtf immediate "ite-) lations. tKatitOiflimp . pecpla- upon a piex^'iof ground is to secure their salvation. Iti the settlements alluded to they must consist of 20 adults and they are to have 160 acres each. They are worked on the co* operative lineß. The ; settlement is managed by a board of trustees, whose chairman is, for the time being, the head of ther whole* WncetD. If the chairmatj ana tfugfaea.

do not give satisfaction to their fellow settlors they can be put out of office at any time. This simple statement of the relationship existing ill the settlement shows that failure is invited from the outsets Take 20 adults, of the class tvs described as ■ forming such-unions-** marry" o"f"tne people were in a state of pitiable poverty. . ; . As the" ' train moyecl out of the Adelaide station it was touching to note hn\y little luggage there was with the two hundred passengers or thereabouts wjio were, taking with them their little ftil. The ' entire live stock consisted of say a cciijjle of horses, as many cows, half a dozen pigs and a few fowls," these people are dumped upon land wholly unprepared for them, and they have to remain on communistic lines un* til land is all under cultivation and | the Government is repaid. These unfortunate people have to elect their trustees and obey the dictates .of a chairman who may be more ignorant of farming work than themselves* and "ff experience proves this to theni they have to make a fresh choice, and so on, and so on, until the incapacity'"of all is fo'untTbufc. ■Doe 3 not this seem a. moat peculiar way of encouraging" a settlement ? and does it not justify Mr Reeves' apparent query " if the settlement' succeeded ?" It is not given to every worker in a town to under* stand what is necessary to do to the soil to obtain a return from it, even this is to be seen "on" the lands' of settlers who have had long'acquaintance wilh the work. It seems that in- So nth Australia and in New Zealand where the laudable desire exists 'to see the unemployed in towns placed 011 country lands, every help shonld-'be extended to them in the .shape of : .. skilled advice and direction, that work planned out by such a person should be only that which was undertaken, ami then the "new chums " would learn a profitable lesson, and be saved the disheartening work of seeing their labour thrown away. Until some such direction is given, special settlements will be a farce and years will roll by before " social students from all parts of the world " need set out on their journey of inspection. We believe special settle' ments are possible, that they may be worked profitably, but we are assured without experienced direction only a miserable failure will be accomplished. Every trade requires time to learn, none more than that of a farmer, yet our legislators cannot grasp this facfc.