THE UNEMPLOYED.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 5, 25 February 1871, Page 8

THE UNEMPLOYED.

We have little sympathy with the cries lately raised on behalf of the soi disant h unemployed.” We find it difficult to believe that any large body of able men, who are sober and industrious, and wil ling to take a fair day’s wage for a lair day's work, would long remain without employment, especially during the summer months, when everywhere in the country districts, extra hands for harvest work are eagerly welcomed, and very large wages are freely given to a man who is worth his salt. No doubt there may he a few who from some peculiar combination of adverse circumstances, are unable gain a livelihood in the town, and are equally unable to avail themselves of the opportunity of obtain ing remunerative work, which an abundant harvest everywhere affords in this province ; but these cases, which are deserving of our fullest sympathy, are exceptional, and we believe that the majority of those who are really unemployed, are either physically unfit for work, or too idle to put their shoulder to the wheel, or squander at the public houses their means of subsistence, and by doing so deprive themselves of the opportunities of employment, which their more steady and sober neighbours gladly accept. The movement, however, in favor of obtaining land for the bona fide agriculturist of the laboring class, will receive our cordial support, provided that a system be devised and adopted which will really confer a benefit on the laborer, and at the same time provide a sufficient security to the country that the land shall be occupied and improved; There is nothing that we should look forward to with greater pleasure than the prospect of filling up the agricultural districts of this province, and indeed of the whole colony, with an independent and thriving population of small farmers. Victoria has adopted the “ lahd on de-

ferred payments” system with great apparent success, and has attracted a large population of small farmers from the other Australian colonies, and we can see no valid reason why in this colony a somewhat similar system should not meet with a like success. In Victoria the Free Selector, as he is called, applies for a license to occupy a block of land not less than forty acres, and not more thau 320 acres in extent. The license is granted on payment of a half-year’s rental, viz., Is per acre for every acre taken up. This license enables the holder to occupy the land so leased at a rental of 2s per acre for three years, the rent being paid half yearly and in advance. During the first two years of occupation the land is to be substantially fenced in, and one acre out of every ten is to be brought under cultivation, and before the end of the third year improvements to the value of £1 per acre are to be effected. All these conditions fulfilled, the holder of the license can, at the end of the third year, apply for a renewal ,of his lease for another seven years at the same rental, and he claims his Crown grant at the end of that period without further payment, or he can pay a lump sum of 14s per acre, and obtain his Crown grant at the expiration of the three years. It will thus be seen that any settler in Victoria can acquire a farm of from forty to 320 acres in extent, by occupying it, improving it, and paying a rental of 2s per acre for a period of ten years. What this colony requires is a settled population, and a sufficient land revenue for the execution of such public works as render the lands available for profitable occupation If in any land scheme these two great requirements are not provided for, the scheme will inevitably be a wretched failure. Not to insist on occupation and improvement would be to lock up the lands and prevent permanent improvement. To give away the land, as has been done in the Province of Auckland, is simply to deprive the Government of the means of making roads, which are an essential requisite to the success of the small farmer. We do not think that the Victorian scheme is, by any means perfect: to work it must require a cumbrous and expensive machinery, and the complete freedom of selection among all the waste lands of the colony would encourage a system of “spotting” which would militate against the disposal of the remainder of the land. While providing for the location of the small farmer without capital, it is- also necessary to encourage the large farmer and the monied man to cast in their lot with us. Labor requires capital in its. neighborhood, quite as much as capital requires labor, and it is only by a judicious encouragement of both that we can hope to attract either to our shores, or to make New Zealand assume the position which her soil and climate entitle her to take as one of the most populous and wealthy communities of Australasia.