FREE SELECTION.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 377, 2 June 1876, Page 3

FREE SELECTION.

( Totht Editor of tie Mount Ida Cmiojttcxß/ Sin, —The excitement caused late attempt at " land jobbery," " sacrificing- the birthright of the people," &c.,. ended ratlier suddenly, notwithstanding the stirring articles in various journals to fan the flame. It is strange that the condemnatory measures passed against the Provincial Executive at the lato hurriedlyconvened and highly-excited where deliberation was impossible, should be considered good reason, why the careful and deliberate actions of good and tried n.en should be set at naught. The people of Otago never had, and may never have again, two greater champions' of the people's rights than Messrs. Macandrew and Held. Yet the political honesty of these gentlemen is called in question because they attempted to sell pastoral lands at a good price, for the very laudable purpose of raising money to carry.on the construction of a railroad, which would shortly be extended through Strathtaieri, to open up an excellent and very extensive area for Settlement. The unsuccessful attempts by so many to obtain freeholds* show that, instead of our Land Laws being conducive, they are most detrimental to settlement. Neither the poor nor the rich man can get land when and where he wants it, and consequently thousands of good settlers are lost to the country. Our friends at Hyde wont land, but cannot get it, and what more likely than that they carry their savings to some other country? Mr. Shennan also, who has amassed wealth in Otago, is willing to make it his home, and therefore wishes to purchase 23,000 acres of histun, but is denied the investment. These 1 are instances of thousands of cases of the, same sort-, and show that a repeal of the Otago Land Laws, and the substitution of laws less complicated and more .conducive to settlement, are matters greatly to be desired. The question is, What should the basis of a new Land Law be ? People will, no doubf, hold very different opinions on this matter. Mr. Stout has many believers in the theoi-y of leasing, instead of selling; but in a new country like this, the thing would be found impracticable. : In the first place, leased lands are soon exhausted, unless laws are enforced to prevent the evil, and to enforce such lavrs would require a staff of officials too burdensome on the country to support. In the second place, every man prefers freehold to leasehold, and if he cannot get what he wants-in this country he would be likely to go to where he could. Moreover, a leaseholder cannot bo considered a permanent settler —he sits lightly upon the soil—whereas a freeholder will stand or fall by his country. We have another class of thinkers, whose watchword is " equality," a letter from one of whom appeared,in the 'Otago Witness' of 20th instant, signed " Vox Populi." ITe considers the country should be entirely in the hands of " the small farmers and the diggers." These, no doubt, are essential, as component parts of the community, but a country entirely composed of them would be a poor country indeed. The small farmer is known as one who duns the Government to continue immigration, so that he may once a year get a hand for a week to harvest. He does his own work; and cannot give'labor.; and a' country that cannot give labor is npt.p'ros'-,; perous. The digger, is known as .the' great' pioneer of a new'country. At his apr pearance the, wilderness becomes a paradise, and cities'are built as if by magic; i but, when it. gets more thickly populated;he —especially if he is a surface digger—is not looked upon with such favor. He is regarded as a destructive being, who washes away the fair soil of the earth, which is of infinitely greater value than the gold he unearths, and as a pollutor of streams and rivers, rendering them unsuitable for all natural purposes. To constitute a prosperous country every industry no' injurious to tho s{nie

must be encouraged ; and, so long ns i has land to dispose of, every encouragement should be given to both large and small capitalists to take it up and make it their homes. To attainUhis no' land law can he a success"except one based on the free selection principal. If such a law were [passed—the.'land! classed—a price put on each sort according to its value, say from 2s. to 60s. per acre, and a tax put upon all agricultural lands over a certain acreage in the hands of one mau in an unimproved condition —we would have few good settlers leaving the country, less clashing of interests, and more even pulling together. But, ; : t will be asked, if all lands are to be sold, what will we leave posterity ? We will leave them good railroads, bridges, buildings, improved harbors, besides, the land will still belong to the people. Generation after generation will inherit it; andi should it "get too much into the hands of the few or the many, the Government can always check these extremes. —I am, &c, CcsMOS.