The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JUNE, 5, 1871.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 131, 5 June 1871, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JUNE, 5 , 1871.

We have watched with much interest a discussion that has recently been carried on in our columns with respect to the settlement of the out districts of this province. Recognisiug, as we do, the importance of this question, it has afforded us considerable pleasure to observe the earnest and able manner in which it has been taken up, and we hope yet to receive further communications on a, subject which caunot be too freely ventilated, for, although the remedies which have hitherto been proposed are of enlirely different characters, the mere fact of their being brought thus prominently forward is calculated to direct public attention to the existence of a want that is as yet but slightly felt, but which must, ere long, force itself upon us in such a rnauner as to render compulsory the devising of some means for supplying it. Up to the present time, three correspondents have favored us with their views on the subject, and while they all start from the same point, namely, that it is highly desirable that the settlement of the country should be exteuded into what are as yet almost unknown regions, each of them differs from the other as to the influences which have been at work to prevent a consummation, which, we agree with thera iv thinking, is so devoutly to be wished for. One accounts for it by a complicated, but defective system of land law?, which, he states, are calculated only to mislead and confuse the would-be purchaser of land in the back country ; another is of opinion (hat there does not yet exist that amount of pressure which, in this, as in older countries,is absolutely necessary to produce the severance of the oid ties and associations which bind the rising generation to the manners, the customs, and we may also say, the localities, to which they have been accustomed from their youth upwards ; and a third believes that all that is needed to promote extended colonisation is the formation of good roads whereby the interior of the country shall be rendered more accessible. ~With regard to the first of these objections, we are rather disposed to think that the writer has taken a somewhat exaggerated view of "the unnecessary trouble and delay that now attends the uncertaiu acquisition of land." We quite agree with him when he lays it down as a general rule that " the disposal oL Waste Lauds has been hitherto a stumbMcg block, more or less, in all colonies,*tor it has always been a creature of circumstance, and cannot be reduced to a science," but we have reason to believe that the land laws of this province have been proved to be rather a favorable exception to this general rule, and that facilities for acquiring land exist here that are not to be found in other provinces of the colony. With this subject we propose to deal in a future article, but we would remark in passing that had an earnest desire to colonise our waste lands really prevailed, and the only drawback to its being carried into effect been the " trouble aud delay " attendant upon the acquisition of land owing to defects in the existing system, the reformation of the laws would have been loudly demanded by the public, who, through the medium of their representatives in our various legislative bodies, have the power of effecting such improvements and amendments as may appear to them to be necessary. No such outcry has been raised, and, therefore, we may fairly conclude that this is not the great hindrance that bars the way to the occupation of the large extent of country which, as yet, has not been turned to account. .With reference to the high price demanded by private holders of land — not speculators, but bona Jide occupiers — to which allusion has been made by the same correspondent, we at once confess that we are not disposed, with him, to cavil at this, but are rather inclined to view it as an encourage- " meat to others to follow their example,

since, if by their own perseverance and labor, these settlers have converted blocks of land, which probably cost them 103. or a pound an ncre, at the very outside, into properties which, to them, are worth ten or twenty times that amount, they have certainly furnished an irrefutable argument in favor of a similar course being pursued ,by others. But while we are unable to agree with our correspondent in the conclusions at which he has arrived, and which are clearly the result of careful, personal observation, Aye feel greatly indebfed to him for having drawn attention to these questions in &o able and temperate a manner, aud wo have no hesitation iv saying that a discussion so fairly entered upop will have a tendency to promote the very laudable object he has in view. His paper on this subject has, we are aware, been read with much interest, and it is hardly necessary for us to state that any further remarks he may desire to offer will be received by us, and perused by our readers, with much pleasure. To the argument adduced by "A. M. L." iv our last Saturday's issue that to the want of roads is to be attributed the very small number of settlers in the outdistricts, we are cot disposed to attach very much weight, our own opinion being that if the true " colonizing spirit " existed amongst us, the lands would be taken up, notwithstanding the difficulties of communication, by men who, by the mere fact of their emigrating to the wilds in sufficient numbers, would establish a claim upon the Government for better roads, a claim which would be insisted upon not only by themselves but by the inhabitants of both the town and the already settled districts. The makiug of roads to uninhabited parts of the country by a commuuity in which there is reason to doubt the existence of men who, even if such facilities were offered, would take advantage of them, is a very different matter to opening up communication with a country already settled by a number of real colonists who, by the fact of their having taken up their residence there, have clearly shown the necessity of connecting such a district with the chief town of the province by the means of good roads. Iv the one case, there are, of necessity, grave doubts as to the wisdom of such a proceeding; in the latter, the advantage that must accrue to those who Jive at both termini of such a road is palpable, and those who hud settled at the far end of it would find that, although for a short time They might suffer much inconvenience from the absence of facilities for communication — and, in a newly settled country, who does not feel the want of such advantages ? — their requirements would soon be recognised, and attended to, as being identical with those of the inhabitants of the town with which they sought to be connected. Once let the fact be established that a connecting link is absolutely essential to the interests of those at either end of it, and there can bo but litttle doubt that such a link will not long be wanting. We had fully intended to refer to the communication of our correspondent " Backwoodsman, " but such remarks as we would wish to offer upon his letter would be too lengthy for the present article, and we must, therefore, defer them until tomorrow.