THE FEILDING CHRONICLE AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, SEPT QUESTION. THE LAND QUESTION.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 78, 27 September 1879, Page 2

THE FEILDING CHRONICLE AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, SEPT QUESTION. THE LAND QUESTION.

A, deputation of working-men waited; upon the ?rein]er on; Tuesday :: morriing L relative to.^tu'e'l^.nd^ : Settlement Quiis-J tion. Fi'biia the reports of the interview" which have appeared m ; tjfae metrppdli-' r tan journals, we are glai tp.leairn that' the Grovernment intend to give iniiuo-. diate effect to their expressed"desire tb~ s^ee greater facilities afforded to work-* > ing men to settle upon Crown lands, bjv ! introducing a Bill providing for the . ; same. * T^e -Minister for Landa explained the outlines of the xntfasutk i One object of thjs Bill was. to redUcV." t he prite of land on deferred payments. The. minimum price w.as fixed a.fc 30s. v but it would rest with the Land Boards^ to raise I"the.1 "the. price m the caie of~ very, choice lauds. The Bill provides^ for Vthf establisiiment of villagje. settled i raenfe'alpii^ tl\e iine.s of railway^ and in^ ' tKe neighborhpod of other pubh6 works, the sections ranging from a quarter up^ to a full acre. ' o>fcside fch^ viUagesthe sections will be ten acres, and further £ . out will range upsto fifty acres, ; -Any , man may take up pne^of, these, sections, , payment for which will be extended^ over about ten years, bat reaider.ce* will, m: all caseSj t«B an absolujte condi-. tion, and no one wiU, be allowedto take . up more than fifty acres. Such is 'a brief sketch of the Village Settlements' BJII, which, everyone will admit, is cx ? . tremeiy liberal ; but with every dcssirci, to see the working man attaiu the object of his ambition— the. possession ofe a lioniestead of his own— wo' have our" doubts. a t s to the practical success of the scheme.'*^ -^jtiese ten-racre i ;are not sufficient to, enable a man to, ■ bring^ up his family on without other : sources of emolument or profit, 'and wo. do.not see'where the work is to comelfrom t \ after ih^ railways are finished. But ! the Minister for Lands further explained the! ppjicy of the Gbvernmoiit with regard f t 6 land • ',' The Govern-; mei| 'als.6. propose, to. opepjUp the xNraiive lands m the .districts wher» i jfclio village settlements a.re established,' .arid dispose of them on easy terms, m blocks ranging up to - five acres: • Tbis is unquestionably, a s s tep m the,, right direction, and one which we have, all "along* advocated; , As we have., pointed out m previou,t articles, there is a great cry for land on deferred payfor purposes of settlement-— not for speculation. There are; numerous small capitalists who are anxio^a^^.

vest their savings m land, which would then be turned to account," but are deterred from doing so -because sale by auction, f'andi.cash; payments: pimply mean the .total; erhauatiori ;pf . their resource and they would be Jeffe without the means of carrying oh j fixpept. with capital bqrrowjid. at a rate of interest which must (t inevitably ib'ring tain ia its .Besfdes .thi^ class, ; and the groftj^up^Ons of fhe earliest «ettJerg-*or :'wlom .^ sKp t uU ytfiah to | ■«• small fwm^e^eWn^prpyidea— there is another and important branch : ; of our national community whom it would be the height of fpllv to overlook at the.presenfc time. W« allude totbeltenant farmers of the Qld Country^ who^owing to a combination of causes, are m a tru\y deplorable "condition. What with high :fen^,' bad and being -brouglitr through the increased facilities and cheapness of trans. port, into keen competition with foreign countries less heavily handicapped, find themselves ugabte, , /notwithstanding reductions m their, rent, m *ome instances to 50 per. cent,— to make both ends meet. the Istst" mail tha^ numbers are selling" t o& anfl •migrating ta other climes, one'bbdy^of a hundred havineSelefcteddPeruUs theip futare home. This is very much to b*e regretted, for a..h,aiider-,worlring class, M* rule, than the tenant 'fkfmers al; Ttome it would be. nnpossrble to find. They cannot be idl«. I>hey mnsirworlc ; but they see tha folly or Mling to no purpose— -of, for others to reap the benefits/ :Of their labor ; hence their migration toother lands where. theyicwill;Jhave i a^befter chance of bene fitting themselves. - l*he Got ernment have^ now^^ an-r opportunity > of aiding our unfortunate and bppi-es^ed fellow-countrymen, -,an.d at the /same time imra«nsely.,,b.enen'jting. the colony, by making our'iah^laws so attractive as to divert this stream of "useful emij^rattoh to^pfly,;pwiL;-shpre», where, not as tenants but as, freeholders,^ they •would speedily retrieve their •fallen farfeunas, indc^add- materially to the prosperity^ the. colony, ; by .turning, to. . profitable 'account' land that' would otherwise It© idl« and unproductive m th>liands. of- spo^ajtpj^- -r; a l y ; } =i „- . This is. a matter wortliy; the-attention :\pf pur. rulers. QovjernmeTit hay©, m the Village Settßrnepls^Bill^shown .a- disposition to aist m this fdtrection and- if they evince an equal- desire to; Induce these: experienced yeomea . tol !"; iettle oh our waste lands. -as they/jiave, by their Village,: Setjiemenjts' Bill; to, indnc© the working, niea to. do so, they, xrill do more, tq, consolidate ani ; perper ' tuate th» prosperity ; pf $c cplony than . any previous Goverttinani Has essajed i UAo. -^^r^,^: ; t ■/■:. *ra' v.!