The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 478, 22 November 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1879.

As the land, the sunshine, and the air may fairly be called the * tripod of life,’ no legislation can be more important than that relating to the only one of the .three that can be cut up and sold, m >no-

poliscd, or misapplied. In old countries reforms are at work undoing slowly the customs and laws respecting land that have been growing up, and becoming more and more irksome for thousands of years. Even in some very young countries, as Victoria, it is already necessary to begin tho arduous and dangerous task of undoing the errors of the present generation. Even in our own colony mistakes have been made that will cause heart burnings and strife as long as those mistakes remain uncorrected. Since Sir George Grey issued from Kawau, like the moon from eclipse, and entered the arena of Parliamentary polities, every one has heard a thousand times of the Canterbury “ grid-ironing.” This term describes a process circumventing the law, and of obtaining about twice as much laud as was really bought, which was largely practiced by smart men in the early days of the Canterbury Province. The law did not permit the sale of any smaller extent of land than twenty acres; some genius, therefore, hit upon the happy idea of buying a large number of twenty acre sections, leaving nineteen acres between them, so that for every twenty acres he bought he virtually became the owner of thirty-nine acres. Properly speaking, therefore, the Crown is, to the present day, the happy possessor of a vast number of nineteen-acre blocks in Canterbury, which, however, magnanimous patriots consent to occupy rent free. Grid-ironing, then, was a glaring abuse in the past, and is destined to be a very prolific source of trouble in the future. The alienation of vast roadless blocks in Nelson Province at a tenth part of their value is another of tho sour grapes eaten by the fathers, which will sot the children’s teeth on edge. Huge blocks were sold at nominal prices, and out of those blocks the extravagant proportion of ten per cent, was allowed for roads, which however were to be surveyed within three years, or become the property of the purchaser of tho other ninety per cent. As the purchaser generally had a seat in the Provincial Council, it happened that the survey did not take place, and now not only is the public estate gone, but when roads are wanted they will have to be bought at fancy prices that will cover tho expense of fencing and of enormous inconveniences and losses suffered by the patriotic proprietor at the hand of the ruthless public. These two things, together with the Hawke’s Boy Native Land swindles, and the Piako Swamp swindles, of more modern date, are the led rags of the Land Law .Reformers in New Zealand. And as no one doubts that these things are among the sins of the fathers that will be visited upon the children, it is very natural that great interest should be felt in every thing that takes place in tho way of legislation respecting the sale of lands. The errors already committed must be left for posterity to deal with, but the prevention of further errors in the same direction is tlie clear duty of the present moment. Although the Land Bill of the present Session does not provide for the prevention of the acquisition of huge estates by capitalists and land speculators, which, probably, no Bill could provide for, it does the next best thing : it enables the ! man of small means to acquire a small ; estate. This will, in the end, prove to be the most effective means for stamping 'out tho Land Shark pest. Th'* mere introduction of immigrants, and the carrying on of Public Works do very little towards encouraging the settlement of an Indusi trial population on the land. They produce a wandering population, unpatrietic, and not too moral, but do very little towards increasing the number of proprietors. The Bill provides for the encouragement of Special Settlements. This removes one of the chief obstacles in the way of the poor settler, who finds it almost impossible to occupy land seperated by miles from others of his class, and surrounded by comparatively wealthy men with whom he feels he has little in common, and in whose presence he has an abiding sense of inferiority which damps his spirit and makes him dissatisfied with his position. In the Special Settlement, he will only have the friendly and healthy rivalry of equals; he will not be made to despise his modest farm and home by a too great contrast between them and those of his neighbors; he will not be made to think his life is wasted because his progress is slow compared with the progress of others; he will not make his farm a secondary consideration, and depend chiefly on what he can earn from a wealthier neighbor; and, above all, he shares the benefit of the mutual help principle so beneficial in its results in settlements where all are poor. With respect also to schools, police, postal service, and the offices of religion, there will be great advantages in a kind of settlement that will keep the people close together.

The Bill also provides for Village Settlements. These were very successfully tried in Canterbury several years ago. When immigrants arrived they were permitted to erect the orthodox Canterbury sod hut on some Government reserve. The small amount of timber required for the roof, and the straw for the. thatch were furnished at public cost. Each hut, when complete, cost about £lO. Rations were allowed while the building was in progress and when it was complete the builder was allowed to occupy it and a plot of ground, varying in extent from half-an-acre to several acres, rent free for the first year, and at 2s par week for the second and third years. This simple plan relieved the immigrant of the burden of heavy rent which generally keeps him about as poor as he'is when he lands.

The extensive adoption of this syste S would allow those immigrants who did not intend to settle on land at once, to become colonised, and at the Same time lo accumulate a little money before making a decided start in colonial life. Bnt, although it has good points, we cannot say that the,- Bill is to our mind. There were several suggestions thrown out, in the debate on the second reading, which are worthy of attentive consideration. For instance, there is an obvious absurdity in attempting to fix upon a minimum price which shall be suitable to the whole colony. There is laud that requires very little preparation for the plough, and land that would cost, as some members in the House maintained, from £4O to £6O per acre to clear—to wit, the land on the West Coast of the South Island. Again, we thoroughly agree with those members who insisted that Waste Lands Boards should be elective, and should have authority only within their own County. Bnt most important of all is the suggested change in the relative prices of Cash and Deferred Payment laud. It is forcibly argued that the settler who takes up deferred payment land, with the compulsory occupation and improvement clause, is the kind of settler that should be encouraged. Why, then, it is asked, should he pay fifty per cent, more than the cash purchaser, who may let the land lie waste for years ? This applies more especially to the Waimate Plains, on which the eyes of the colony are fixed. It is absolutely necessary that lona fvle settlers should be placed on that land when it is sold. If we remember rightly the Taranaki Waste Lands Board announced, when the Plains were advertised for sale, that the upset prices would he: Cash, £5 per acre; Deferred Payment, £lO per acre. This is the contribution of that farsighted body to the solution of the Native Difficulty. This rule, carried out, would place fonrfifths of the Plains in the hands of absentees, who would settle tho land with sheep and cattle, and keep a man to the thousand acres. Under such circumstances what strength would there be on the frontier, and what check would be placed on Maori lawlessness ? We hope that a more enlightened policy will prevail before the sale takes place.