PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS AND ECONOMY OF THE PROPOSED CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 345, 22 November 1848, Page 3

PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS AND ECONOMY OF THE PROPOSED CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT.

The rapidity of the growth of most of the ancient Greek colonies, which .was such that, at the expiration of a century, the wealth and population of the colony frequently exceeded those of the parent state, has led many to compare the colonial policy of those days with' that of pur, time and natio_n. The result of the comparison has been the discorery of three roost irapprtant differences between the two systems,'~whtch are quite sufficient to account for the very different measures of success wWclTbave^ttended them.' ' r- The Greek colonies sailed from the parent states perfectly organised, and, for all purposes of, internal government, independent societies, - * .- r 'c

The, territory occupied by each was closely limited to that which sufficed for the agricultural industry of the colonists, by the 4 necessity of a concentrated population,* to "protect Che lives and pioperty of all from the inroads of the original owners of the soil, whom they had dispossessed. They had slaves, which secured to them

abundance of* labour. It cannot be expected that these three conditions will be fulfilled in> the proposed settlement of members of the Church of England in New Zealand ; but it may be alleged, with truth, that there will be a greater approach to these, or equivalent, conditions in this, than has been ever accomplished in any other settlement ol modern times. , The colonists will sail from England as far as possible an organised society ; and it is the intention of her Majesty's Government to diiect that the settlement of Canterbury may be, if no local obstacles or other unforeseen objections prevent it, constituted a distinct Province, ' with a separate Legislature. If this intention be carried out, they will possess institutions of local self-government' to an extent unexampled in the history of new colonies in modern times, and the enjoyment of this boon, alone, would suffice to stamp the Canterbury settlement with a peculiar character, and to make it specially attractive in the eyes of all who are acquainted with the evils of the opposite system. Its colonists ! will possess complete powers of self-taxaiion, of legislation upon all matters which concern themselves alone, and of control over all functionaries engaged in local administration, without any interference on the- part of oilier and differently constituted communities, while it is hoped that the care exercised in selecting those colonists, and their general unity of opinion on topics which form a fertile source oi d.scord at home, will enable them to exercise with peculiar advantage and facility the privileges with which it is hoped that they will be entrusted. The population will be concentrated, not by precautions against the hostile inroads of a warlike aboriginal population, but by the large sum of money required to be advanced in the purchase of every acre of land. It will not have the economic gain, with the moral degradation, of a slave popula'ion, to develope the riches of the country ; but the -immigration fund w:ll supply a larger amount of free labour to the capitalist thau has hitherto been procurable in recent British settlements. We proceed to notice the following distinctive features of the proposed settlement, which give it, as is conceived, an additional claim to superiority. These are — the preliminary trigonometrical survey of the territory to be occupied by the settlement ; The method of free selection of land, by every purchaser of a land order; The arrangement for the selection of immigrants of the labouring classes ; The preparation of roads, sawn timber, and other conveniencies, before the arrival of the first body of colonists ; The pasturage system. Religious and Educational enlowments-. To secure the advantages proposed by the Association, it will be necessary to demand an outlay of 3/. an acre from purchasers of rural land. This will doubtless appear a large pi ice. to those persons who have not made the elements of the value of land the subject of a particular study, but "judge principally from the prices at which they hear that land in such countries as Canada and Western Austral'a may be obtained. On the other hand it is believed that few, who are qualified to form a correct judgment on this important subject, will deny that land in this settlement will be really cheap to every resident proprietor. Let us analyse his outlay. In the event of 1,000,000 acres of rural land being sold, which would produce £3,000 000, this sum will be expended in the following manner : — One-sixth, or 10s. per acre, will be paid to the New Zealaud Company for the land £ 500,000 One-sixth will be appropriated to surveys and other miscellaneous j expences of the Association . . 500,000 Two-sixths to immigration 1,000,000 Two-sixths to ecclesiastical and educational purposes , 1,000,000 Total £3,000,000 The price of rural land is 10s. per acre, which is not more than will suffice to repay the New Zealand Company the outlay and risk of loss incurred in opening New Zealand to colonisation, io purchasing the land from, the natives, and in maintaining the establishment which is necessary Tri the colony to protect its" property and carry on its operations ; and in England to represent its interests to the Imperial Government, and' to promote its colonization.' ' -

- Nor is the land dear at this price, considered in itself, without reference to the outlay at which it may have bl>en acquired by the New Zealand Company. If ' reference, be made to the extracts given in the preceding pages to establish its fertility and climate; if the cost o( conveying its produce to market be considered ; and if this land be then compared with land at the same price beyond the Mississippi, cr the Lakes in Canada (fertility, position, and climate being the principal elements of the value of wild'land, in whatever part of the world it may be), it will appear that, not even in those parts of the world where it spems to be cheapest, can land, Iteming equal quantities of these elements cf value, be purchased at so low a price as' in New Zealand. A contribution of 10s. per acre will be required from every purchaser of r rural land, to form a fund to defray the expense of the preliminary trigonometrical survey of the territory ; of the subsequent surveys of each section as it may be selected ; of commencing the formation of the principal roads, marked on the general chart ; of the few temporary buildings required ; of the Association in England ; and of the necessary staff in the colony. This forms no part of , the price of the land. The purchaser from Government in America, or the other British colonies, neither pays for, nor has, any of these advantages. There the Government land is divided, more or l?ss accurately, irtto sections, according to the regulat-ions as to not only figure, but size, which may from time to time be prescribed by the Government. ' Every intending purchaser must choose one of these sections, however wide it may be of the particular lot of land which he may wish to obtain. But an accurate preliminary trigonometrical survey of the whole territory, that invaluable guide to the selection of the best lines ot road, and the best lots of land, has never been attempted in any new settlement heretofore ; although, in such a case, every operation of human industry being yet unattempted, its utility would be very much greater than in an old country, where it reveals so much that has been misdirected and misplaced. Even in Europe, the inhabitants of few territories have the advantage of such a survpy as the purchasers in this district will possess. In the British Islands, a similar one is not yet completed. The gain to the settlers in the diminished cost of making the great roads in the best lines, as compared with that of making them in improper lines at first, and afterwards continually altering them, will much more than repay them for the outlay incurred in making this survey. The vast advantage of security and accuracy of boundary, and the facility of the registration and transfer of all landed property, will be clear gain. _ These advantages will be cheaply purchased by the outlay which this survey will cost. At no period of a settler's progress are roads so essential to his convenience — almost to his existence —as when he first proceeds to locate himself in the bush. His family, his household goods and agricultural implements, and food to sustain his establishment until the fruits tff their labour shall be sufficient, must all be conveyed ' to his new abode. The loss of time, labour, and property incurred in this operation, in a new country where no roads have been pieviously formed, will be sufficiently estimated only by those who have had. experience in America and Australia. The purchasers of rural land, in the settlement to be formed under the auspices of the Association, will make a contribution accordingly to these expenses. If this money be economically expended, (and effectual precaution to secure economy in this and every other expenditure of the funds contributed by the purchasers of land can and u.illbe taken by the Association), it may confidently be asserted that a more judicious investment of part of the settler's capital could scarcely be made. As regards the expenses of the Association in England, and in the settlement, the station and character of its members, and their moral responsibility to the colonists to protect their interests to the utmost, afford, it may be hoped, a sufficient guarantee against any abuses of administration. Moreover, every operation, such as road-making, bridge-making, and buildings of all sorts, the execution of which can conveniently be submitted to public competition, will be conducted in that manner. -;The utmost publicity will be courted ; the 'most detailed information of its expenditure will be afforded. Another contribution which will be required from the. purchaser, namely, a sum equal to twice the amount of the price of the land, or£l per acre' Tor rural land, to be expended on immigration, may confidently be asserted to be a most advantageous investment of part of his-'capital ; and/at tne'samte'ti'me, one which: 5 he could not safely make, Unless it.were compulsory upon the' whole body. Indeed a larger sum than this m,ight advantageously be

applied to this purpose, if all other appropriated land in New Zealand had already contributed, or would now contribute in the larger proportion, as will appear from the following consideration. Supposing that it be considered necessary, in order to the most profitable systems bf-til-lage, that at least one adult male agricultural labourer should, be imported into the settlement for every thirty acres sold ; and supposing, moreover, that on the average there- be one such adult male labourer in every six in* dividuals among the labouring' immigrants of all ages and both sexes; — it will then appear necessary that six such immigrants should be landed for every thirty acres sold. But, as the average cost of passage cannot be reckoned at less than £15 for each individual, the sale of thirty acres will only furnish the passage money of two individuals. "- y The contribution, therefore, to the immigration fund, will certainly be insufficient ;, but, as other owners of land in New 'Zealand have not contributed so much to the labour fund of the Colony, they would reap the 1 advantage of any larger outlay, at thePex^ense of the Association^ It must, ateo, be remembered^ that there^is a considerable elasticity in the last" of the three elements, — land, labour, and system of_ agriculture, which have to be adjusted to each other in every agiicultural community. In New Zealand, the modification which the sysij tern of agriculture must receive, in order t*f adjust it to the other two elements, is a great' increase in the quantity of grass land. After the land shall have been well cleared, fenced, and cultivated for two or three years, it will be laid down for several years into pasture, to t which the soil and climate are so well adap--ted ; land, thus treated, instead of one sheep , to four or five acres, which is the common power of unimproved natural pasture in Australia, will maintain about four sheep pec acre throughout the year, with no more dread of being overstocked in an arid summer, as in Australia, than in an inclement winter, as in Europe and America ; so that, although a larger immigration fund could be advantageously applied if the Association possessed it, and other colonists in New Zealand contributed in like proportion, the immigration fund actually determined on, is, sufficient to sustain a productive system of rural economy. . Every purchaser will have the right (subject to the veto of the Association) of nominating persons who shall be assisted to emigrate, in proportion to the amount contributed by his own purchase to the general immigration fund ; and, if- it be found practicable, some contribution towards the expense of his passage and outfit will be required from each immigrant, as well with a view to obtain the greatest uumberofimmigrantsforagiven expenditure, as to secure a better class of labourers. Town and suburban lands will be sold at higher prices than rural land ; but the funds derived from the sale thereof will be expended for the same purposes, and in the same, proportions. So far as practicable, measures will be taken to send individuals of every class and profession, in those proportions in which they ought to exist in a prosperous colonial community. The Association retain, and will carefully exercise, a power of selection among all those who may apply for permission to emigrate to their settlement, either as purchasers, or as emigrants requiting assistance. They, will do so with the view of insuring, as far as possible, that none but persons of good character, as well as members of the Church of Englang, shall form ,part of the population, at least in its first stage ; so that the settlement may begin its existence in a healthy moral atmosphere. The peculiarity of the method of the selection of Jand adopted in this settlement, consists in allowing every purchaser of an order for rural land to select the quantity mentioned in his laud order, in whatever part of the surveyed territory he may please, assisted by an accurate chart, which will be made as ra* pidly as circumstances will permit, represent- - ing the natural features, the quality 'of the soil, and the main lines of road. - Certain rules as to position and figure, embodied in the instructions to the Surveyor, and framed with a view to prevent individuals from monopolising more than a certain proportion of road or river frontage, must be observed in each selection. „ 0 J But it is not the intention of the Association to divide the whole or any portion of the territory to be colonized (except the sites of the capital and other towns, and a small quantity of suburban land adjoining each town site) into sections of regular size and figure, which " has been the system generally pursued- in other Settlements.. If this selection shall not violate the regulations as to position .and figure, and, if, the area included shall be equal to the. amount of ' land stated in the land order, the section will be immediately marked on the chart, and a surveyor will be sent as soon as possible to mark it on the ground, — To be continued, \