The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, SEPT. 6, 1862. THE VICTORIAN LAND LAW.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1721, 6 September 1862, Page 3

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, SEPT. 6, 1862. THE VICTORIAN LAND LAW.

He just and fear not; Let al! the ends thou aim'st at, be thv Country's Thy God's, ?nd Truth's.

We have received a copy of "The Guide to the Land Law of Victoria," lately published by the lion. Gavan Duffy, the author of the law itself, and the President of the Board of laud and Works. Whilst wo cannot admit the correctness of the following statement of Mr. Duffy, that "it is to be noted that the Land law of no other country in the world guides the intending settler to the best land by a provision of this nature, which selects it out and places it in store for his especial use," we are quite willing to acknowledge that the present scheme, now the law of Victoria, is by far the most liberal and comprehensive which has yet been brought into operation in that colony. Its primary object is to give increased facilities for the settlement of. the people of that class of society, the existence of which in a nation, above all others, contributes to its stability and vigour. The best agricultural land, instead of as heretofore being sold in large blocks, will be offered to the public in such a manner as to ensure the impossibility of more than 640 acres being purchased by the same individual, while the minimum amount has been fixed at 40 acres.

The application for hind must bo made in person, and lie accompanied with a declaration that (he applicant is over twenty-one years of age, ft resident in the colony, and that he selects the land for his own use, and not as an agent. If the applicant is it woman, site must declare that she is not married, or, if married, judicially separated from her husband". Any attempt to evade these regulations is met by the penalty " that any other person who desires to select the allotment in question may within a month make an application for it in the usual way (already de.scrihed), as if it were still unselected, accompanied by ti notice to the Land Officer (in a form appended to the Act) that the law hits been evaded. The sheriff of the district will then, on notice from the Land Ollicer, summon the parties before him, and submit the case to a jury of four, over which he shall preside, and the decision of a majority of them shall be final and conclusive." In addition to which, a person making such false declaration is liable to prosecution for perjury. If there shall be no other competitor for the same farm the applicant will be at once doclared the selector, and he may then pay tor his farm at .t'l per acre, and receive a title forthwith, or lie may pay for one-half of it and rent the other half on lease for eight years, at an annual rent of a half-crown per acre ; but such rent will, at the termination of the eighth year, be deemed a payment in full of the purchase-money of the portion so leased. Where there arc; two or more applicants for the same farm, who have applied between the hours of nine and four o'clock of the same day, the right of selection will be decided by lot, Jit is estimated that about ten millions of dQreg are Available for settlement under j^epe

regulations, and a very comprehensive map of the province, showing the various localities, and the position of these blocks, is contained in the pamphlet. Perhaps, the most chimerical portion of the scheme is that which supposes, that were the whole area of ten millions of the best land in Victoria so occupied, a ready and remunerative sale could be obtained for the produce raised. Mr. Duffy has endeavoured to meet this point partly by a declaration, " that there is a market for breadstuff's in the manufacturing countries of Europe constantly extending, and partly insatiable;" and in the resource to be met with by distilling spirits from colonial grown grain, instead of importing them into the colony. Leaving out of the question the present exceptional high prices of grain in Europe, we cannot see what reasonable reliance could be placed upon the home market; and how, after deducting cartage, freight, and loss, there could remain a sufficient inducement for the continuous exportation of grain. In the second resource, and in the indirectly mentioned new products for which the colony of Victoria is eminently fitted, we see far more reasonable hope for a remunerative return for so large an increased power of production. It has always appeared to us that the English farmer when he changes his field of operations to an entirely different climate, clings too pertiuaceously to the time honored habits of his former home—that instead of adapting himself to the altered circumstances of his situation, he attempts, by forcing Nature, in which failure is certain, to adapt soil, situation, and climate to himself. The oats, barley, and wheat to which he has been accustomed to confine his operations at home, still form the main object of his care, to the exclusion of articles of produce more suited to the climate. In Australia this is more especially the case; and if increased occupation of so much fertile land in Victoria is to be carried on to the profit of the occupier, it can only be by engaging in the growth of those more remunerative articles of commerce, which from the very fact that they can only be brought to maturity in certain climates, yield so golden a return to those who possess the power to produce them. To encourage the introduction of new industries such as these, a liberal provision, under certain restrictions, has been made, by which 30 acres may be claimed on lease for thirty years for the purposes of growing the vine, the cotton plant, tobacco, and hops, and for the cultivation of "brandy farms," tea, sugar, and rice plantations, &c. The rent to be such sum as may bo deemed fit by the Governor in Counc'l, and the lessee to have the right of purchasing the land at £1 per acre after five years, provided the conditions of the lease shall have been complied with. Finally, the disposal of the land fund is to be applied, the one-half in defraying the cost of the survey and in the passage of immigrants, and the remaining half on the great highways of communication, and on local roads and bridges.

Had the present Land regulations, the principal features of which we have slightly sketched, been in existence since the opening of her gold-fields, not only would the present condition of Victoria have been wonderfully different, but we dare predict, that that fearAd leaven of rabid democracy which has rendered that Government and people a political byword, would have been swallowed up and neutralized by the conservative element, which the establishment of a class whose interest is rooted in the soil would have insured.