Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1896. Land for the People.

Manawatu Herald, 18 August 1896, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1896. Land for the People.

When will our politicians gain some little sense when talking about the settlement of the land ? The possession of so many acres to a man who has not been accustomed to land is a veritable white elephant, and a residence on which will either drive bim to the direst poverty or suicide. We have politicians talking most glibly about wanting people to go on the land, thinking when they are there a miracle will bo effected, and they will blossom into husbandmen who understand seed time and harvest, and the way to make both ends meet. Even if some men -with a previous knowledge of agriculture obtained land but have not the wherewith-all to live the necessary time while the land is cleared, and fenced, and cropped, what is. the good of placing them there ? During a recent debate in the House we are astonished to find Mr G. W. Eussell stating that the object of the Land for Settlements Ace was more to provide the landless with land than farmers with farms. The calm statement of this view is an illustration of the happy-go-lucky manner legislation is introduced and sup ported in our Parliament. What is the good of land to the landless without experience, and if the landless have experience then supplying them with land must be providing farmers with farms. That such a distinction is made by a member of the House is most unfortunate, and if the administrators of the Act do not oppose this view, then the fate of the land settlements will not be far from a speedy failure. With some members it appeai'3 to be a mania to object to all who have developed the colony, acquiring lands, or even their sons obtaining land, as surely as a farmer's son is, by education, if not by possession of land, a farmer. The colony would be more wealthy if the cobbler would stick to his lash, aud the farmer to the land, but in the prize topsey-turveydom colony of the world, great efforts are constantly being made to place everyone in a wrong position, and the illustration wo have given is aa good a one as can be obtained.