As Others See Us.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1642, 23 February 1886, Page 2

As Others See Us.

♦. ; ' One reason, perhaps the chief reason, . for,, the very general depression existing in New* Zealand seems to be' overlooked by xhe political' 2»»e2, witncs who seek to explain the why and the of the present unsound state of affairs in Maoriland. That is, the price of land in proportion to population. ■ With a population of only half a million in the whole colony, first-class agricultural land is as ■dear—in say Hawke!s Bay, Poverty Bay, and Canterbury Win Kent, Surrey, or Hampshire, with their crowds. Faulty legislation in the past is bearing bitter fruit in other places-besidea Ireland. In Hawke's Bay between Napier and Wai? pukurau, some of the finest land in the world may be seen alongside 'the railway, line. This land should support tens of thousand of inhabitants, and should be cultivated by; a yeoman What: is it? The home of: sheep, of Leicesters and Lincolns— not men, women and children. No crops^are to H be seen, no grain is grown, nothing but" sheep. "From the train ■'• the eye hardly sees ths grass for sheep; In spring and summer from 25 to 30 sheep per acre are kept in these paddocks'; there ik no room for mdin. Labor is only wanted occasionally, and is procured from the j " special settlements " of - Scandinavians located by an "artful dodger " of a "politician in the densely-timbered forest f rmgipg these plains, the settlements of Danevirke, Noraewdbd, and Qrinondville. Nearly all the arable . land . is owned by about 40 rich men, rich '■'< beyond the dreams 6f avarice. .These men employ little labor, import their from Home-T;are, pf course, Conservative, and cry out that the colony is ruine^ but forget to mention that' the Public Works policy made their fortunes. But the banks and the loan companies have their! . claws on fully half ; ; . the colony,. jind pay thumping dividends, screwed oui; of tjie , struggling settlers. New .Zealand ©ffers a' fine field for the' moneylender. Interest on loans over' there averages fully two per cent, higher than in Sydneyi-r^Sydney Bulletin.. .;.; .-. • '„