THE VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS IN THE NORTH.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1621, 16 August 1887, Page 3

THE VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS IN THE NORTH.

A correspondent of the Auckland Herald thus describes the village setlements in that district:—

A great deal has been said about these settlements by people who don’t know anything about them, and the general purport of their letters seems to be to have one smack at the settlements and two at Mr John Lundon. I am not a great admirer of that gentleman, nor am I a village settler, but in justice to him and to this system of settlement, I must say that so far they are in success. At Eawene I saw a good sample of early potatoes as ever I saw in Auckland at the November shows, and this is only the 29th of July. On looking over the Matuparaka block, I find the names of two ladies, Annie Beagley and Margaret Danaher, as holders of sections. If these are the maiden ladies referred to by Sir George Grey in his denouncement of this system of settlement, he is a very long way out of his reckoning, for they are married ladies with families, and they are as far ahead with their improvements as anyone on the block. Messrs Halliwell and Archibald, in the Narrows, have been doing wonders since they went on their sections, and seem quite as contented as if they held freeholds. I may say that the best section, the pick of the block, No. 11, is held on the deferred payment system, and as jet there has been nothing done to it, a state of things that could not happen if it were held on the village settlement terms. I may add that the Government need not trouble about these settlers after this year, for they will have the gumfields to fall back on, and if they starve it will be their own fault. I am going to Taheke next week, and will see how this part of the settlement ia getting on. . . . I am not a bit afraid of the success of these settlements, for I am sure after what I saw to-day that in a short time they will be supplying Auckland and the South with early fruit and vegetables. i