VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 208, 25 June 1887, Page 4

VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

The Village Settlements scheme initiated by Mr Ballnnco has been pretty severely criticised of late both in the House and elsowhere. The opponents, however, of this beneficial scheme have been utterly unable to bring forward any convincing reasons against its public usefulness, Mere assertions of opinion, unsupported by arguments, like thai of Mr W. F. Buckland, that this plan of settling our unemployed fellow colonists upon the land Mould prove disastrous to tho colony, will nob have much effect upon the public, who have shown an unmisUkeable disposition to support the policy of village tettiements, A great deal has been made of the amount of liabilities incurred by the Minister of Lands in furtherance of the schema ; but f the scheme is a good one it is surely .the duty of the Government to see that it is properly carried out. Whatever funds are* necessary for the proper organisation of the scheme n.ust be devoted to that purpose, or else it would have been wiser to have left the thing alone altogether. To fritter away a few thousand pounds upon the initiatory steps of an undertaking likely to prove of great benefit to the public, and then stop, would be a stupid waste of public funds. When we think of the hundreds of thou&ands of pounds squandered on unprofitable lailways and unnecessary public buildings, and other public extravagances too numerous to mention, we cannot but marvel at the fuss made about the expenditure of £60,000 in carrying out a scheme which has settled upwards of a thousand families upon land which would otherwise have remained unoccupied and unproductive. And when we rellect that the^o village settlers, now em* ployed in the work of earning a subsistence from the soil, thus turning to profitable account tho natural resources of the country, would otherwise have swelled the ranks of the unemployed, and remained a burden upon the community, we feel inclined to say that the national benefits secured by the establishment of these village settlements would have been cheaply purchased at twice £GO,OOO. Wo do not hesitate to as sert that had it not been for the opening thus piovided for people without means and without work during the depressed times it would have cost the colony in charitable aid expenditure and useless relief works thrice thr money which has been devoted to the purposes of village settlements, and there would have been nothing to show for it after all but a pauperized population. The real objection which certain persons have to this policy of placing the people upon the land is two-fold. They are opposed to it because they fear that its success will surely break down the popular prejudice in favour of freehold as compared with a State leasehold tenure j and they also object to it because it tends to prevent a wholesale reduction of wages by providing an independent means of subistence for the unemployed. Our only objection to the village settlement scheme is that it does not carry out far enough the principle embodied in it, viz., that to devote a certain portion of the public funds to making the Crown lands fit for profitable occupation by industrious setters is a legitimate object of public expenditure. In our view , until this principle is more fully recognised and acted upon, the opening up of the country by road and railway will never bring about the successful financial results that would otherwise be secured. In conclusion we may say that, although considerable care and foresight will be required to make the village settlements a permanent success, and while no doubt there will be individual failures amongst the number who take up land under this system, we feel confident that on the whole the scheme will live and pro>per, and prove of immense public benefit to the country.

Remedy for Scaly Legs.— This ailment is often a sore disfigurement to an otherwise handsome bird. The simplest remedy is to dip or wash the legs in kerosene on the first appearance of the ailment. Repeat the operation if the first application is not efficacious. The remedy is cheap and certain if persisted in. It is most effective when the kerosene is freely rubbed in while the legs are held upward, so that it can Senetrate under the scales. The disease is ue to the operations of minute insects under the scales of the fowl's legs. The only preventive, therefore, is not to allow infested fowls in the poultry yard, as tha ailment is extremely ' • catching. " Another remedy is to wash the legs with a weak solution of sugar of lead in the morning, and anoint them with clean lard just before going to roost. The birds should have wholesome diet, including meat at least once a clay. They should not be exposod to rain, or even be permitted to roam on wet gvass, but should be kept quiet until the ailment disappears. Indian Game as a Cross.— An English poultry breeder asserts that a cross of the [ cock of the Indian Game on common hens produces the best table fowl he has ever eat • en, and ho has tried nearly every other I sort. These half blood Indian Games make an extra full breast of meat, which cuts like cheese, and has the flavour of the pheasant. The other parts are extra firm and . tender in tiesh of a very superior quality. All Game fowls and their crosses are celebrated for the superiority of their flesh, but if the India* birds so much excel them, they are well worthy of importation. Bred pure, they would not be profitable except by selling the chickens at high prices, as the hens lay only a few eggs, and then want to sit, Game cocks crossed on the large Asiatic breeds of hens make a great improvement in the flesh of the half-blood chickens which still attain a large size.