CANTERBURY LANDS. [From the Australian and New Zealand Gazette.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 731, 4 August 1852, Page 4

CANTERBURY LANDS. [From the Australian and New Zealand Gazette.]

In the recent articles which we wrote on this subject, we did not long anticipate tlie necessity Tvhich would arise for an uniformity of price in land throughout New Zealand. We then pro- | pounded a plan winch the Canterbury Association might adopt to their own advantage, and to the equalization of the price of their land with that 0/ the other settlements, and stated that if the Association did not adopt this plan, the Government must of necessity adopt it in the land sales of the colonly generally, the -effect of-whicb would put a stop in toto to the sales of the Canterbury Association. Botlrthe time and the fact which we then anticipated has arrived — not that it required any prophet to foretell either, as no man who knew anything of the subject would have expected otherwise.^ There is now on its way to this country, a memorial from the Legislative Council to her Majesty's. Government — headed by the Govefnor-in-Chief — to the effect that the price of land in the Canterbury Settlement, and the power which has been conceded to the Association in the matter of land, are becoming blocks to the colony generally ; that if the Canterbury land system is upheld, the colony universally must retrograde ; that by the continuance ! of that system the colony generally will be doomed to stand still, whilst the Association is mak- ; ing an experiment which no one with less iraa-

ginative powers than Mr. Gibbon Wakefield could have expected to succeed ; the experiment not containing'a single element of success, but elements of certain failure in abundance. We take no credit to ourselves for baying anticipated this climax ; but a reference to our paper will shew that from the first' we did, so, simply because no other result' could he anticipated. We have a real deiire that the Canterbury 'Association should go on, if only for the sake of the colony ; and if our reasonings have at any time been harsh, subsequent events hare shewn them to be correct to the letter. Let us view the Canterbury experiment — for it is even as yet nothing more — as it now stands, and they are no friends to the colony or the Association who would look upon it in any other way than the true one. The Association has, comparatively, sold no lands for months^ eveiy ship it sends out is a loss, notwithstanding the accounts which it some time ago published relative to i(s shipping profits ; the funds arising from the' lands actually sold have been long since exhausted, and the New Zealand Company, to which the" Association is largely indebted, is unpaid ; the portion of the land fund set aside for ecclesiastical purposes is useless, for there are already more clergymen in the colony than the colony knows what to do with, and the fund is unavailable for any other purpose — even the Bishop-designate will not return to the colony. This is the condition of the experiment for which "the interests of all the other settlements should be dissatisfied, or that such a debate should have arisen in the Legislative Council of the colony as we have elsewhere transcribed; which debate has resulted in the memorial to which we have already alluded. For the sake of the colony generally, we caunot shut y our eyes to these things, and we may add — for the sake of the Association also, for we are confident that if it will give up its absurd £3 an acre price of land for a reasouable value, it may flourish yet more than has done any other association Connected with New Zealand ; and not only so, but it may yet fulfil its own cherished schemes with reference to its ecclesiastical aspirations, which, so long as they are kept within proper bounds, we have not the slightest wish to see checked. But the - present policy of the Assocition Js suicidal ; the zeal of its members — greater than anything heretofore witnessed in colonization, and evidenced by their liberal contribulions from their own private fortunes — is being thrown away, and' their liberality wasted ; though, had they been rightly directed, the best results must have ensued, and if they be for the future rightly, directed, the best results may yet ensue. -The present step on the part of the Legislative Council of the colony will, however, bring matters to a crisis, putiing out of the question the somewhat indiscreet acts of Mr. Godley, the agent of the Association in the colony. " The appeal of -the Council, is to the Colonial mioisier, and he will be cailed upon to decide promptly and fairly. He cannot permit for a moment thdt the interests of the whole province, long since established, and comprising four distinct settlements, with a population of 12,000 Europeans, shall be set aside for the interests of an experimental settlement scarcely numbering 1000 souls. A decree going forth from him — for these colonies are governed by decrees, aftd uot by laws — would be equivalent to a decree that the older settlements oi the colony shall be destroyed — stand still they could not — whilst the junior settlement was making its experiment. Another month — for the memorial has not yet arrived — will place the whole question fairly before him', under the sanction, and, unless we have been misinformed, by the prompting, of Sir' George Grey himself. If the Canterbury Association be wise, it will occupy the interval before the arrival of the memorial of the. Legislative Council in remodelling its land system. In no way has it, as yet, fulfilled the conditions on which its charter was granted, and a persistence in its present policy will compel the Colonial minister, be he whom he may, to insist upon the fulfilment of these conditions, or annul the charter. The colonists will demand this, if the present system goes on ; and no colonial minister will venture to refuse t heir piayer. By persisting in its land policy, the Association is placing its own most ardent friends in an awkward predicament. Suppose" Earl Grey out of office, and the Duke ot Newcastle in his place, how can the latter nobleman say, — I will do justice to all colonies but New Zealand, and to that I will not do justice, for the sake of the Canterbury experiment ? The noble Duke neither can nor will say any such thing, but must act in unison with the wishes of the colonists as much as must Earl Grey. Take another ardent supporter of the Association — Mr. Adderley — how can he stand up in Parliament and say — 1 advocate the rights- of all colonies but New Zealand, and the rights of that colony I cannot advocate, because I am interested in the success of the Canterbury experiment ? — Mr. Adderley will no more say this than will the Duke of Newcastle. Even Lord Lyttelton himself would, in such a case, turn his back on his own handiwork, and the sooner the Association itself turns its back upon its own policy, the sooner will it returq to a healthy condition. . We will not pursue the subject farther till "the arrival of the address from the Legislative 'Council. But in the meantime we will recapitulate what we have advanced on former occasions. When that address arrives, we shall deem it our duty to enforce its prayer by all the arguments in our power. As from the letters we have received some misconception of our proposition relative to the Canterbury lands has arisen, we will again detail it. ft is this, that the price of land in future shall be thirty shillings per acre, instead of £3 ; that former purchasers shall be compensated by having their lands doubled ; that in their new j lands they shall have priority of choice, on the principle' we have bo often laid down, that in a colony the first comer should' always be first served ; in short, he should be permitted to serve himself, and then he could- have no ground of complaint. We would further adopt the recommendation of our correspondent D., in one of our ! late numbers, that every purchaser of 100 acres, should have a pasturage right to 1,500 on payment of a small annual sum. This would be enough to begin with. On a limited district like the Canterbury Plains, we have no wish to see a few- large flockmasters monopolizing the whole,' but, on the contrary,* we should like to see a great number of lesser stockfarmers of good

education and gentlemanly habits," who wonld form amongst themselves a high moral tone, instead of the low one, adopted amongst professed stockmen. The present period, if the. Association render the price of land reasonable, is highly favourable for forming such model-pastoral,esta-blishments. From the running away of, Australian; stockmen to the gold diggings, sheep in the outlying, districts of New South .Wales will, be cheap enough, and in the course of. the next spring hundreds of English capitalists might be induced to emigrate, if they were not compelled to spend so much of their capital in the high charge of the lands of the Association, by which they are deterred from emigrating. In short, if the % Association continue its present system, it wHl^om!! the finest -possible opportunity of rendering itself permanent and really useful, whilst there is no slight; danger "that, like its defunct predecessor, it will only be great as a bugbear to the Home Government, upon which, like all other similar bodies, it will charge its shortcomings, as upon the common' scapegoat of all political failures; especially colonial ones. - - One point only remains to he noticed, and that is, the effect of such a change upon' the ecclesiastical system of the Association, which system has formed the base of their operations. The proportion of the land fund applicable to this purpose must also be reduced one-half, but from the additional quantity of land sold in consequence of the reduced, charge for it, the ecclesiastical system would be vastly benefited, by receiving five pounds where it 'now does* not receive one. .We have not the slightest wish to reduce the proceeds of the ecclesiastical- fund : we should rather wish its increase, for as this could not he applied in sending out more clergymen than were- wanted, it would be expended in building churches, and .other monuments of architectural skill and taste, in which colonies, and new ones in particular, are most deficient ; — to our ideas, the humanizing effects of tasteful buildings may -be most beneficially employed in furtherance of the spiritual doctrines taught within them. Even in our own country, this humanizing influence In church architecture, almost the only architecture of modern days which is not contemptible, has manifestly had its effect upon the people, as it will have on all people. In this respect, we at home may but too often back the steeple against the pulpit ; the latter sometimes pointing to very questionable quarters, but the former always pointing upwards. If we were' wandering amongst the settlements of New Zealand in search of a locality to settle down in, we should certainly stop where we found the prettiest church and parsonage, a's affording an •indication of the highest condition of civilization. By all means," then, let the funds for such a pur- v pose increase, only make the windows sufficiently capacious, to admit light without candles at midday, and Providence may be trusted for the rest.