DISILLUSIONED SETTLERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2113, 10 April 1920, Page 1

DISILLUSIONED SETTLERS.

BRITISH EAST AFRICA. GLOOMY PICTURE PAINTED. Glowing accounts of 1 lies possibilities of British East Africa for land settlement have attracted many ex.soldiers from New Zealand to thill quarter of the globe. Now these soldiers are writing home gloomy accounts of their experiences, and warning lo those who might he inclined to follow in their footsteps. The experiences of one young New Zealander who forsook his native country and went to Africa are contained in a letter dated Nairobi, December 18th. He strikes a note of warning, and, in addition, gives some information of general interest. “The country between Mombas.sa and Nairobi,” he writes, “is pretty good, and very interesting. Nairobi is a great show>with a population of about 15,000, but absolutely new. There are some line stone buildings, but everything is unfinished. Every place was full up, so we went to the Y.M.C.A., and managed lo get in there. It’s rough, but cheap. We have been here 48 hours, and we have been making inquiries all round. We haven’t quite decided to go back to New Zealand, but the others (three New Zealanders) arc feeling mighty like it.” After referring to the experiences of other land-seekers, the writer continues: “If anything, our case is a bit worse. I( appears that applications for land under the Soldiers’ Settlement scheme closed last June, so no" notice was taken of our applications, and on inquiry at the Lands Office we were informed that nothing could be done for us.

“Then, again, the exchange is killing us. The price of silver has gone up so high that the rupee has risen from-Is 4d to, 2s sd, which means that—well, take my case: I bring in £4OO from New Zealand, convert it into rupees, and get just over £2OO for it. Cheery, isn’t it? Endeavours are being made to have the English currency brought in here, but it will be twelve months at least before they succeed in doing so. Land which a year or two ago was worth five rupees per acre is now selling for 75. Even land back 100 miles from the -railway is going at £1 an acre. Oxen, of which you need 16 to pull one plough, are fetching £lO per head. Implements, firearms, clothing, food, everything, is very dear. There is plenty of work about the railways, or with manufacturing firms at from £ls to £2O per month, but it takes all that to live, and more to live comfortably”

The larrikin element is not the only menace to Masterton (says the Age). There has recently developed a low type of creature that devotes itself to the writing of anonymous letters, besmirching the characters of reputable citizens. This is (he most venomous reptile that creeps on the face of the earth, and the sooner it is scotched the better for the community. Private detectives are being employed to trace the authors of some of these outrageous missives, and should they lie discovered they will probably pay dearly for their despicable conduct. Society must be in a bad way when it produces individuals so lost to selfrespect that they would assail the characters of others under the cloak of anonymity. Such individuals are deserving of a sound horse-whip-ping, or, better still, segregation for a period of years in one of His Majesty’s gaols.