The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5354, 25 May 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1878.

The experience which the : colony has gained from the many attempts that have been made to found what : are = , called “special settlements’’.has not been generally favorable to that kind , of, enterprise. The great attempt that was ; made under the most promising circumstances, as regarded the'men themselves, to form communities of military settlers at several points on the territory oonfisoated_ after the war, was, a, costly and conspicuous failure, and appears to have deterred the Colonial Government'for all subsequent time from a renewal of efforts , of a like kind.' But many of the Provincial Governments had, or professed to have, great faith in the forcing system of settlement, to which the name of “ special ” has been given; • The result has generally been, we believe, not very satisfactory or encburag-, ing. Martin’s Bay in Otago, Jackson’s Bay in Westland, and the Karamea settlement in tho Nelson Province, cannot;be referred to as instances of the advantage of the special system upon which they were founded. The broad inference to be drawn from tho facts in each case are, we think; that settlement will take place spontaneously, if we may venture upon the'use of that word, where tho local conditions of good land and facility of access exist, and that the first, at least, is'the.. indispensable condition for stability. In none of the settlements we,have named do both of these conditions exist, and in the case of the Karamea neither of them was found. The land was- bad, the place was isolated, and except from the sea,, wholly dnaoessible. i The settlement was founded by tho Provincial Government of Nelson under the authority of a local Act, and it was assisted by funds provided from the Nelson provincial chest, and afterwards by moneys appropriated by the General Assembly, on provincial -.account. ,As might bo expected there was, failure, some hardship, great discontent—much of .it-; very unreasonable, if ; amongst the people ; and as is usual in little communities so situated much personal recrimination and jealousy of those officials>who ;were •■■in; authority over;the. settlement. The grievances of the settlers were embodied in a memorial to the House of Representatives, in which grave charges were made or ; rather insinuated against Mr. E. J., O’Conob, the Government agent there. In consequence a commissioner, in the person of Mr. Alexander Mackay, of Nelson, was sent over to enquire into the allegations of the petitioners, and to report generally as to the progress and prospects of the ; settlement. Mr. Mackay’s report is printed as a Parliamentary paper, D.,7 of the last session. The total number of the special settlers at Karamea in the month of, September last was 193 souls ; they had then 382 acres of land cleared;! and had 2 horses, ' 228 head of cattle, 100 of which belonged to one person, and 105 pigs. ' The block of land upon which they were first located was found to be wholly unsuitable, and after two years, of. fruitless .labor, they were obliged to abandon it and commence anew on a piece of land on the other side of tho river. The cost of the settlement had been £11,199, of which £7500 had, been expended in making a road to connect the settlement with. Westport. t,-.' With regard to the memorial or petition to the House, Mr. Mackay reported that after taking evidence, and giving the matter full consideration, he found the allegations to be altogether unsupported. As regards the charges made against Mr. - O’Oonor, Mr. Maokay says“in con- ‘ sideriug the „ whole .question,, it .has to. “ bo borne in mind that numerous disad- “ vantages have had; to ho encountered in “ founding a iettremeiit in ah inaccessible “ district like the Karamea, withapeoplo “entirely devoid,of, colonial experience ; “and that the measures that had to be “ enforced to cause them to take an active “share in the duties required of them, ‘.‘combined with the mistaken attidudesaid “ to have, been assumed towards them by “ Mr. O’Cokor, has probably excited “ popular feeling against him'; otherwise “it is difficult to realise why such a “ strong feeling should exist against one “ who has done them many individual “ acta of kindness, and who, has evidently “ striven his Utmost, as fair as laid in his “ power, to make the settlement' a suc- “ cess,”'"! Hi.’. In.‘"l

It appears that the' old agitation has been recently, revived because of the disposal of the right to occupy a few acres of reserved land in the settlement, by, the Nelson Waste Lands Boardand we thought it right to place the facts officially recorded before our, readers. The old feelings of general distrust and of jealousy and suspicion of each other which have been the bane of the little community-ap-pear to be reviving, and, coming, into, public notice again. It will probably be found that they are as groundless and unwarrantable on this iaa they were shown to be on a former occasion.,