TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 278, 24 November 1874, Page 2

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1874.

Aa r . stated yesterday, the steamer: Wallace* started on Sunday with, a number of the newly arrived immi- . grants, who are about to foriu;f, "special settlement nt tbe Karamea. The i steamer wos in ch/ir^o of Mr L_e,ch,,tbe Westport pilot, Whohad cSme'up for . the purpose of piloting her into the Kara_ree. Unfortunately the sea- was - too heavy for her to enter yesterday, but she will doubtless be taken in .as soon os the bar is practicable. Having already commented upon the scheme in some' of its phases, we now Rive a copy of the terms and regulations as supplied to eacb bead of a family before departure. They 'are as follows :— i; '* (1.) That about 3000 acres o£ land on the left bank of the Karaine- be act aside in the first instance for a speciaL sett .meni. (2.) That a person be placed in charge, to whom be entrusted all stores and Government propertyv who will superintend' all publle works, and from whom the new immigrants may obt .in advice 'and tuition in bush and road works, and in cultivating the lari-i, &d (3.) Tbat thirty families be the first settlers, the head of each family to be employed on public works for one month, at 6sp?r day, full time, and for three days in each' 'week . for .six montha certain, afterwards, fit a wage of 8s per working day, if desired. (4.) That rations be served out to those requiring them for the seven months they are engaged on pub ic works, at cost price; payment cf same to be a first charge on the wages earned. (5.) That an allotment of fifty acres of land, also an allotment of about five acres, be leased to each head of a family for fourteen, years, at an annual rental of 2s per acre, and at the : c dof fourteen years a Crown Grant to be given to each leaseholder without fnrther payment. (6.) Tbat the land co allocated be chosen br lot. (7.) That one of the settlers be appoint- d storekeeper, under the control of the Overseer, on terms to be agreed upon. (8.) That 5 cwt of seei potatoes and one bnshel of oats or rye seed be given to each family to make provision for winter use. (9). That, a tent cover or tarpaulin be furnished to each family, if required, the cost of which to .be in equal monthly instalments from the ' wages' dug to auch family. (10.) That tools be furnished to the s ttlers a. cost prices, and payment to be taken In equal amounts monthly. (11.) That* a loat be placed under the control of ibe overseer for tbe use of the settlement. The Waste Lands Board will be re-om-ni.nde- not to prant lease * to Any persons of lands selected nnder these regulations unless tbe persona , selecting or appl jing to lease such lands shall personally occupy the sane, amd give sufficient evidence of their intention to become bona fide sttt'ers thereon, by clearing and cultivating or otherwise improving a fair proportion ofthe land allotte 1 to them.— A fee of £1 will ba payable to the Waste Lands Board upon every application for each separate block of land applied for, and a'so a deposit of sixpence, an a<re towards the expense of the survey for every acre of land applied for, but the amount to deposited for surrey will be placed to the credit of the applicant towards the payment of his rent " The scheme contains many elements of success, but there is some danger of its being wrecked upon one or both of two rocks which we see ahead. First, the support promised to the settlers is insufficient. Three days in each week devoted to clearing and cultivating iheir blockß of forest land between the Ist oi January and the 30th of June, will tot place them in a position to feed their families off the produce of the soil thereafter. The utmost tbe moat energetic can be expected to do within that period will be to grow a few potatoes for winter food. A full year's half-time employment at le*st should be given to the men to encourage tbem to cultivate the iand, otherwise the o'jecfc for whicb tbe settlement is form* J will be defeated, and tbe mon will la driven to turn their attention to gold digging or other employment in order to provide the necessaries oi life for themselves and tbeir families. This defect, however, can hereafter be rectified without the success of the echeme having been endangered in the meantime, but there is another and far more serious one, which, unices remedied at once, must be productive of disastrous consequences. It will ba admitted on all sides that success or failure will depend to a very great extent, if not entirely, upon the person placed in charge. Tbe settlement will presently number several hundred souls, and -tnong tbese intricate questions must of necessity arise requiring in their eolation the exercise of great tact, judgment, aod administrative ability. As tbe communication between Nelion and the district will be

limited to one 9tearaer a montb, calling s ai the K.ramea on its way down tbe ( Coast, considerable intervals will < occur in the correspondence between j the Executive ahd the overseer in i charge, and the latter will, therefore, i be frequently called opou to decide 1 important matters of detail on bis own i responsibility, or else will retard i progress until ho can receive in- I Btructions from Nelson. Now, we hear the question constantly asked whether ' Mr Hyland, hitherto a small farmer in I the Moutere, to whom iB entrusted the ' responsible charge of the Karamea eettlemcnt, is a man fitted for the position, ond tbequestion is as frequently answered as asked io tbe negative. It is true that his application for the office wai accompanied by credentials numerously signed by respectable settlers, but it has reached our ears tbat many of these signatures were affixed under a total misapprehension of the duties required, which were supposed to be those of an ordinary road overseer,.. or superintendent of labor. But instead of this, hie duties will be of the highest that a. public servant can ba called upon to perform, and these are to be imposed upon one who is in no way qualified for the task by education, by previous training, or by any kind of administrative ability. We have no desire to speak in any but terms of high respect , of Mr Hyland as a worthy and industrious man, and excellent settler; even as an overseer of labor we shouid not,bave a word to say against bis appointment, but how the Provincial Government could have made so egregious a blunder as to select a man to perform duties for which he cannot possibly-be fitted, particularly when failureinust involve ruin to those whom they have sent into a wilderness, and heavy pecuniary loss to the province, is indeed marvellous. To show in, how slipshod a manner the echeme has been entered upon we may state that ali tbe knowledge of the district at present possessed by the Government is derive! from a survey made ten years ago by tbe late Mr Burnett, who cut one .or two base lines through the fordst.: Since then a good deal of land, has been sold on both banks of the river, or* the south side of which the special settlement is; to be laid due' without the aid of a sur- . veyor or any. person haviug; sufficient; local knowledge to identify the survey orto mark off the lines of roads oni which the immigrants are to bel employed, and without even a qualified porsou to cut up blocks of 100 acres into the village sections of five acres, which are to be allotted to the piooeers as sites for their homesteads.: All this, and even the selection of the position ■ of the village is to be left to Mr. Hyland, who, from the day he lands,will have forty men on hi. hands, whose weekly wages will amount to 1 about £70, and for whose' profitable - employment he alone is responsible. We can scarcely believe that the Executive are fully; alive to the probable consequences of the utter thoughtlessness that has characterised their action in this matter, or to the cost of rectifying the blunders that may arise out of one single month's mismanagement. In the interests of those tbey have cent down, and whose welfare they are bound to protect, we would urge the Government to lose no time in placing the administration of the settlement in competent hand.; in the interests of the families, the heads of » which have embarked in an enterprispi which, wisely conducted, will secure . their independence for life, but, mismanaged, will wreck all tbeir hopes, we appeal to them to adopt a course which alone can save the settlement from the ruin that all thoughtful "men must see impending; and, for the sake of their own characters as public men and representatives of tbe people, we would invite them to admit their error ere it be too late, aod, by a timely correction of it, to save the province, as far as is now possible, from its consequences, and by so doing prove themselves in some degree worthy of the trust that haa been reposed in them.