The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1884 THE UNEMPLOYED.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1271, 29 November 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1884 THE UNEMPLOYED.

Mr Twomey may very well in'.:, rod by the amount of attention which has been paid to the policy which he laid before the electors of Gladstone when seeking their suffrages. His Bank Scheme is now amongst the most popular ideas of the day. In Auckland it was discussed by the Parliamentary Debating Society and passed ; in Christchurch it was brought forward by a similar institution, but it was rejected —not because the meir-bers disapproved of the principle, but because they wanted to turn the Ministry out of office. When recently in Christchurch we made it our business to sound public opinion on the subject, and found every man, without exception, to whom we spoke in favor of the scheme. In Dunedin, Messrs Macandrew and John Bathgate have expressed themselves in favor of it. The former issued an address on it, and the lattei brought it before the Chamber of Commerce and also delivered a moet exhaustive lecture on it. The subject has even been brought forward in Parliament, but Sir Julius Vogel did not appear very favorable to it. Thus it is that the idea has gained ground: jet when it was put forth in the first instance people ridiculed it for no other reason than that the man who originated it was humble and obscure. The other scheme, for settling people on the land, put forth by Mr Twomey has also been taken up lately. The Christchurch Press had an article on it ; and the Timaru Herald forthwith endorsed the sentiments of the Press, and said it had been advocating the same idea for years. It is said that the editor of the Timaru Herald is a frequent contributor of articles to tlie Press, and that may account for the readiness with which the two papers agree on the subject. We have read the Timaru Herald for years, and we defy it to show an article in which the same idea had been previously dealt with. Besides these two articles, the Mayor of Rangiora submitted tl.e schema to the Unemployed Commission, and we find that Mr W. J. Steward has done exactly the same thing au Waimate. He said that ' ; power should be taken to acquire the land for this purpose, and cottages should be erected on the sections. He , ul.t that, allowing £lO an acre as the price of the land and £SO as the cost ot erecting a two-roomed cottage, the holdings would represent a cost to the Government of £l5O each, which could be let at say &6 to £7 a year, without any loss to the colony. The lessees should have a purchasing clause, and he believed that numbers of married laborers of the best class would be glad to take up these sections, and would be able by the produce (keeping cows, pigs, poultry, etc.), together with their earnings at shearing time and harvest, 10 keep their families in comfort," Now, Mr Twomey's scheme, as published in the Timaru Herald on the 22nd of June last, was as follows :—" To settle the people on the land let the Gove; ;i n;:u buy five or six acres from the present owners, and lease them, at a rental of 5 per cent, on the purchase money, to laborers desirous of settling in such homes. Supposing the land to be worth £lO an acre, the Government would give the farmer £6O for it, and would charge the settler £3 a year for it.'' In amplifying this in his speech he held that there was work for a laborer in every 200 acres of land, and suggested that out of every 200 acres these plots of five or six acres should | be purchased. lie also pointed out that this scheme would benefit the farmer as well as the working man, while the State could not possibly lose,' as the interest on the purchase money would always be paid. It is flattering to Mr Twomey to find his views thus adopted, hut at the same time it is not right of those .vho have attempted to rob him of the credit of having originated them. Mr Stewart has been for many years a newspaper editor ; a Mayor of Oamaru, and a Member of Parliament, but he has not been known to express these ideas before. It is a laudable ambition in any man to show an anxiety to be of use to his fellowmen, and to desire credit for having originated what is useful is also pardonable, Mr Macandrew had the following on the Order Paper last session :—" It shall be lawful for the Governor-in-Council, from time to time, I to set aside blocks of land, in such localities as he shall see fit, to be available as homesteads for working /nen over the age of twenty-one years : Provided always that such homesteads shall in no case exceed ten acres in extent, and that no Crown Grant shall issue in respect thereof unless, or until, the occupant, or his heirs, shall have fulfilled the conditions of occupation as set forth in sub-sections two, three, ' four, five, and six, of section three, ' appendix A, of 'The W aste Lands Act, 1877.' " This is another modifi- ! cation of the same scheme, only that it approaches too nearly the village ' settlement system, which, though good, < is not the best. The objection to the village settlement is that a large nam- ' ber of working men are huddled < together in one place, and they have to t go all over the country to look for employment, because there is not t sufficient work for all in their own t locality. Mr Twomey's scheme would c place a working man on every 200 acres t of agricultural land, and thus the s working men would always be in the f midst of tha work, We shall look with ; y

some interest to tho report whicli the Unemployed Commission submits. Ihoy have come at the wrong time of the year, when shearing is in full swing. There are very few unemployed now, and in making their report it is to be hoped the Commission will give due prominence to that. We hope, at any rate, that the inquiry will lead to some good, and that some permanent cure for the unemployed will be found.