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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5541, 31 December 1878, Page 2

That the general prosperity, and hightoned morality of any people are very materially affected by the distribution of the land of a country amongst the largest practicable namber of the population, is a fact that but few are sufficiently bold and unpatriotic to deny. It is, as the history of nations most clearly demonstrates, the great bulwark against the inroads of pauperism, and forms in its operation a grand arena for the development of the social and domestic virtues, without which true nobility can have no existence* The necessity for giving the greatest facilities for the settlement of our people on the land has been urged by all thinking men who have taken an interest in the present prosperity and future greatness of the colony, and has been regarded one of the foremost duties of the Legislature—a duty which has been not altogether overlooked or neglected by those who have been at the helm of public affairs. Yet we are prepared to admit that much more might have been effected in this direction with the greatest benefit to the people generally. It will no doubt be remembered that the present Government, before and after coming into office, plumed itself on being the champions of the people. It was therefore to be expected that any defect in our laud administration that interfered with the opportunities afforded to the laboring classes of obtaining land on tho best possible terms, would be at once removed. The land of the country was to be placed in the bands of the people of the country. As an evidence of the great sincerity of their professions, one of their first acts on coming into office was to raise the price of land to fully double what it formerly was in all thepoorer districtsof thecolony. This was effected by the passing of their Lands Sale Bill towards the close of the session of 1877. By this Act the laboring classes in those districts are precluded from obtaining land. In the first place, by the high price ; and in the second place, because the price fixed by this statnte is altogether disproportionate to the value of the land available. The Land Bill of the same session that was introduced by the former Government provided that for the purpose of encouraging the settlement of poor men with families in the districts of Auckland and Westland, blocks of land should be opened for occupation without payment. The Act provides that " the area allowed to be selected by each person of the age of eighteen years or upwards shall be fifty acres, and for persons under eighteen years of age twenty acres, provided that the total quantity to be selected by any one family or number of persons occupying the one household shall not exceed two hundred acrcß of land." Five years were allowed for effecting certain improvements defined in the Act. At the end of the said five years a Crown grant was to bo issued for the land so selected and improved, no payment for the land being dsmanr'ed as far as the provincial district of Westland is concerned. No action appears to have been taken by Minis* ters under this provision; nothing has been done to assist the poor man to settle on the land. A complaint has reached us from that quarter of the mockery and futility of the legislation which professes to have for its object the well-being and advancement of the laboring man. Laud in that part of the colony, we are informed, will cost in labor from £4O to £6O per acre to clear and bring into a good state of cultivation. There are many men who would gladly take up laud under the homestead provisions, notwithstanding the great labor of clearing it, if it could be obtained at a low price. Many are now leaving in disgust at liaviug to pay £2 per aero for land which will cost so much in clearing, and whioh, when oleared, will not be fit for tho cultivation of cereals.