FOUNDERS' LAND SOCIETY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4334, 9 February 1875, Page 2

FOUNDERS' LAND SOCIETY.

Sin, —" Early Settler" lias either- not read, or elsehas misunderstood, my flrst letter on this subject which appeared in your columns on the 3rd instant.* I did not propose the formation of any "Literary Society." I did propose the association of all persons who have paid their own passages to the colony previously to the passing of The Immigrants Land Act, 1573, and of their families, for the purpose of obtaining for themselves the same rewards, in tho shape of free grants of land on certain conditions, which are conferred on newcomera who havo benefited, or shall benefit, the colony in the same way, after the passing of the Act. I described tho nature and amount of the reward to be claimed. And I suggested, as quite an incidental and corollaryfunction of tho society, that if some of those establishing a claim were well enough oft" to devote the proceeds to publications or public institutions com memorative of the • foundation of the colony, tho society would form a good nucleus for that secondary achiev6ment. Your correspondent is one of those, no doubt, who thinks an artichoke is only of use aj a vehicle for the melted butter. I like the flavor of the vegetable itself, though I think it none the worse for the accompaniment. To prevent all mistakes, I put my proposal in this shape : Lot Mr. Howard Wallace, and any others who are in earnest in the land reward proposed, meet and form a "Founders' Land Society," whose primary object shall be the preparation and promotion of a Founders' Land Act, 1875. with such provisions aa will carry the proposal into practice. It is to thai object chiefly, rather than to that of securing faithful memorials and monuments of the early history of the colony, that I offered my own sendees. '"Early Settler" is, in my humble opinion, sadly mistaken in ■ supposing that a select committee of tho General Assembly would most thoroughly achieve the object. By the time that body meets—July or August—the subject will have dropped into oblivion, unless some outsido organisation keeps it before the notice of public

„„,! ™,hllc oniuion. If even a select committee Bv the time they should have made a report-even if favorable to s/eh a Bill as I have proposed--the E and especially the Ministry, would have become mpatient for the Prorogation a.u Solution «it a view to the impending fresh elections. liio. JJiu would, to a certainty, bo consigned to |>e waste paper basket, as one of the victims to the annual " Massacre of the Innocents." „ , & to Jff\w!«..«l others in the preHnunary steps which arc so indispensable to success instead of sneering anonymously at my suggestionpf an ncidental action ou the 1 part of the society, which I "till maiutaiu to be desirable. A provisional commiteeshoulTbe formed to initiate >to™**»™g snrcs for the main object. These »™-^ h °,f'?°J_ £ by correspondence, of co-operators from all . parts ot the colony ; the settling of the grounds of j legr una e and issuing of prospectus according!} . me Ration of t'nfne'ccss'ary Bill, and the se ec Wn of members of both Houses, who are favo «We to the object, to take charge of it; commiimcation v, th Government and with independent members, m oroer and to bespeak their earnest sn VVortJo r Jho SS of and the preparation and circulation for signature ot pefit onsVboth Houses by P«Bons daunrngtaga, and by others favorable to their claims A select co mnfttee;" indeed ! That signifies putting the: proposaloff until the most efficient me hod of shelving It altogether shall be within reach, which, fortunately. It is not yot-I am, S£ WINonAM - vVAKEFtKLD . General Assembly Library, February S PS_ You have been misinformed as to the date 01 ••Ilia' Worser's" (Ileberley) connection with the coVonv. He was an old resident in Cook Strait when 1 arrived in the Tory in August, 1539 ; and had, if I remember right, been with the Ngatiavva natives at Taranaki, previous to their expulsion by the Waikatos, in or previous to the year 1331.—E. J. ".