WHAT IS TO BE DONE FOR THE PEOPLE ? WE MUST CULTIVATE OUR WASTE LANDS.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 254, 4 November 1848, Page 5

WHAT IS TO BE DONE FOR THE PEOPLE ? WE MUST CULTIVATE OUR WASTE LANDS.

But is there no remedy for this lamentation, th's weeping, and mourning, nnd noe ? 1 humbly think there is. Let, I say, the enclosing acts, winch pro liibit ihe enrloMiie and cultivation of ihe inooi lands in Great Britain and Ireland, be repeal' d mid whoever then claims them might either divide th"m or allow them to he divided into iarms of 200 acres each, and liave farm buildings eiected upon each division, and all to he lenled at such a value as meiely to p«y a leasonablc interest for the cost ol such division, enclos ing, and erection* for the fit st 21 yeais, Or if the landlord would rather let those who eicct their own buildings go rent tree, excepting for a mere acknowledgment lor <i certaiujriumber ol years, thus assist in Uk« mg in all the wasie lauds it would furni-.li u-oik for every hand, and Uiead Lr every mouth, now dcst-Uute ot bo 1 h. '1 here are at It ast 15 OOO.OOH of acre's of wste land in the United Kingdom that can he i.np ored ; theij fifteen million ot acres divided into faum of 2i,0 ucrps, each — for liiat is plenty lor a faun, for 1 con-..dm-great Jarms tire great public evilb — there would then be 7r>/)00 new farms. If 5000 new jarms wire culu vated «veiy ten years and forcveiy'lO I arm 1 , to form a parish and evciy 5,),()00 .icun or 250 farms t>> h vj a market town, ihcte would then be every year, f.ir at kust hitmen ycirb to come, 5000 new farm houbes, 80 villages, and 20 market towns to I'uild; every village to contain about IOU houses, and every town about 2000. At tins rate, in tlie mwiy cm losed lands, the Hum' er ol homes ni towii«, vill,iv,< % ai.U f.uni-., wow d be mur'y 53,000 ye.nl^, 120 chutch--, and peihaps an many cliup^-,; 10m0 sthools, besides all oUili public ?juil lings. And, lo elfoct nil Tlii=, it would lcquiie 130 lime-

kilns, 1100 stoiicquaries, 150 bnck-yar Is, 20 plate anil bottle glass-houses, 250 corn-mills, 1000 market and other gardeners, 25 saw-mills, 50 steam-engine lactones, 20 coal pits, 15 iron forces, 20 potteries, 10 tun-yards, 10 paper mills, 1000 tile sheds to fmrowdtain the land and fence it. Then there would be railways and turnpike roadst to construct. Wh.it a I revival of trade and commerce would this improvement lof the empire cause bolh by land and sea. It would make Bntain a little China, wheie we are told that in evety part of it every inch of land is in the highest state of spade-cultivation, to supply the mouths of their hundreds of millions of people. Let us t.ike a " leaf out of their books"— as little as we think of them. By the plan I have just proposed, we could annually bring into the field nn increase of ten thousand ploughmen and as many cartels. Then what a demand there would be for horses, carts, and ploughs i And with r. spect to the house-limber trade : — On an average each house would lequiie about five loads of timber, and ships to biing about 200 each, and to two voyages in the year : thus would 100 ships be emplojcd, und 100 new ships would annually be requiied io iieep up the fleet that would have to be employed. Then theie would be wanted to be employed for fifteen yeais in the Umber-trade alone, — ' Seamen 15,000 Shiji-biulcleifl Mock and mast makers 700 Kope-nnikcrs .•• '^00 S»<il-makers 300 Anchor smiths , 500 Ship liters 50 "WoocMiewpra lo . oo ° Lightermen 500 iDlnp-loadeis 1.000 And would not tlie coal-Hade and meichd'it-service connected with this new pml of Britain, employ 2»,00O more seam en who although would fo;m 50,000 in numbti ? And the agnculiuinl, gardening, and business de. partiueut woul I be neai ly as follows every year : — Fences 40,000 Drainerb GO.HOO Ploughmen 10,000 Lime-lurncrs l,;>0f) Ui.ckm.ikers 20,000 B u'Uuyers 22,500 Sfotiemusotis 4,0 0 E ainebuildtis 5 00 ) faawyir, l.O«>O T .liners 2 0 Coal and lead miners 3,f)('O l'api-i makcis 000 Gl.ub-n.en 1,00) Sionc-quauyni'ii ....12,00.) Joiners and house carpenters 10,' ()() ri.istcicrs, slateih. paintcn, &c 5 000 Koiihenwaie rnanufactuiers 2 n"0 Inn-loi»e-nu'U .... M 0 'JileniAkr-is 5,000 Coin in il lei s 1,3 )0 Gnrdinen 1,00') .Slate q nan y in en .....-*■ 1,000 C eigymen •• 120 Medical men 100 Luwyeis ' 50 Schoolmasters 1,200 But at the end of filled) years, the men of several of those professions would be (ifiteu tunes their number, and pi i haps as many mote small tiadesmen, who have not b<cn mentioned. Certainly the capital tequired for this groat nalionii improvement would bceiioimous at fn.st, but not l.uger than the united energies of this large and wealthy einjiiie could bring forwaid. When capi al is nghlly embarked, business, commerce, and n-oiits, are sure to follow. Tlif? annual pi ofits of the United Kingdom cou'd effoct Ibis, which would arise horn the following lour leading souroeb ot all trade : namely, Ihe mmral, (he agucuJiuial, the maniifactu;ing, and the shipping interest ; or, if the supplies from the a'xive quailcrs were not adcquite for an nndeilasi.ig of such vasr magnitude, let tliu annual mx miilioiib sler'uu-,, winch are sent across the ocean lor provisions, be kept at home, and applied to it ; and then there would be an umpK' supyly. It lb by the toil ot Butons sons tint profits are q lined. Iheu let htr annual piofits or pare money, sti 1 be embmhed to employ her destitute and ru) i !ly multiplying people. It would ceitamiy \ieliJ, u> lail, tw.>-iold batisfaction to the capitalist to see hii poor neighbour at work, and his family U d .-nil clothed, and his own wealth increase. But to ne say, " If (he enclosure and cultivation of all the waste j land in the thiee kingdoms were m»Je ihp law of Uic laud, it would put a stop to the tide of emigration ;" the aiuswer is, it would not do so. for one U-nh ol the inciease of the popal.tlion, oi 40,000, does not enugiatc. But would it noi t« wiidoni then in the lu->t p ace, with the spadr and the ploujtb, to cultivate tlic millions of a< res of was'c lands n our country ? 1 wou'd, by no meant), prohibit (.'migration, but by tvt'iy iiicunserieouiag-f h.iaie culiivd'iim himukuneou-.lv wnh emigiaiion. Lee in, at the same tune, ever le ncra-In-r to innovate and make stiong ih • mothci cuuiiliy, in order not onl> io mablc hci to imnntain her bi^li po ition, but aKo to send bci s ins an I daughteia out to liur moßt di taut us well as her j earpsi cdlodics ,S, me irav argue Lliai ihebC moors aie useful, that s, liei wastt- land on the mo. r&. in tluir present slale as iln-y mpply food lor slu-cp, cattle, giouse, and bees ; bui. it ought to be L»'pt in mind that tlu .same piece ot gioii'id ih it will only itrd a sliluj) hi it*, piesent s-tau , would feed u couple oi o\en in Us improved tondrion. I icmembti, tbou' twcii'yihve yeais ngo, of a piece oi moor land, about live milt •> from Ebchebtei, in tliii county (Durbain), b'ing clobcd and siUacbcl to ibo fauns of Iho adjourn q cutnt-', hulon.jing to tin. lloyal llos| Hal tor Seamen aUim nwicli, which, when i'uiiced and brought into tillage, ycJded almost double the quantity of gram that the old cul'.natcd acveb did. And a neighbour of mine, ha-, lately told me, that hu is niqii.ti ted «ib w'.io taolc in small (ailfia a oir thirty yearj ag ) on ih ■ ljord< is t f the muoi.s m Yoikslnif, Wiio h iv got. noh by such imp o\cmenth. Is it not a sad pity tli, t .so much 1- 'I bhould I) \va ti in tins tou it' y, vheio it ib so much tvaiitud, an > j

which is so well situated, all within the Temperate Zone, and not an acre of it elevated to the region of perpetual fros>t and snow ? [Fiom a little temperately written pnmph'et entitled "England's Dibtrrss and a remedy Suggested, by Nicholab Cawthorne."]