THE NEW ZEALAND FARMER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1021, 24 October 1882, Page 1

THE NEW ZEALAND FARMER.

A correspondent who writes from Taranaki to the Northern Whig, Belfast, on June 12, says : —“ The deferred payment system of purchasing land off the (Government veiy often leads a mao into extending his estate far beyond his available capital and labour, and this leads to his eventual ruin, I incline stiougly to think that the system of long leases, say of 21 years, at a rental from two shillings an acre, and compensation for improvements, would work better for the small farmer and would, moreover—what is a

most important consideration in a new country where the value of land is rapidly rising—enable the Government to enter cn possession of the land every generation. Still our system is vastly superior to your clumsy and antiquated land tenure, and the working man in New Zealand, if o- !v steady and capaVdc, is s.iro of a cmnnctencc. A labourer and i:ia wife receive £7O to £“6O a year, aiMi al! found, if able to look after a farm. An ordinary labourer has mx shillings a day of 7o hours. I’ent is very dear, clothing dear, bread and milk the same as in England, meat 3.1 to oi per lb. What is so dear to tin: poorest here is his ’.vrfect independence; no State Church, manhood S'rfuwgt-, cote by ballot triennial Parliaments, paid members, a; d education recular, compulsory, and free, I can see evil as well a-, good in al! these ; still mi tio wh.ol -. t iev wo£ fairly. Tim working men are—. ruukeiiu ss apait— .-ulm r bly behaved, most civil, yet not servile. ,