The Tumeka Leader TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1888. THE LAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1731, 1 May 1888, Page 2

The Tumeka Leader TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1888. THE LAND.

We are continually being told that there is any desirable area of laud in the market at present, and that all the companies owning land in New Zealand are only too ready to sell if they could find buyers. This may be true, but it does not harmonise with some facts which have just come under our notice. A farmer in this district is at present on the look-out for a farm, and, hearing that a certain company was desirous of selling its laud in email areas, went over the ground and signified his willingness to enter into negotiations for the purchase of a certain section. The first question asked was, “ How much money have you ?” The farmer intimated that he intended to pay for the land, if the terms suited him, and added that he did not think it necessary to expose to the company his financial position further than that. But the company thought otherwise, and refused to tell him the, price at which it was willing to part with the land. From what occurred, the farmer came to the conclusion that the company wanted to sell only to persons who could only pay a certain portion of the purchase money, so that the balance would remain on mortgage, or else did not want to sell at all. We dare say the farmer was pretty near right. What would pay the company best is a man with a little capital, who would invest his little all in the land, and then find himself in a few years unable to pay his way, for then the land would fall back into the company’s han'ds again. This has occurred hundreds of times. Men hare bought laud, paid a deposit on it, went on working as long as they could in the hope of one day making it their own, found after a time that they could not get on, and then had to allow the placo to fall into the hands of the mortgagee. Many a poor man has been ruined in this way, and we are afraid that many more will be. It is legal for mortgagees to do this, and no one will call their action into question but there can be no doubt that it is not consistent with the strictest morality. Be that as it may, there stands the great fact that this farmer would not be told the price of the land, and he is now looking out for a farm, but cannot get it. It appears very likely that the laud companies have not the slightest n >tion of parting with the land, except at exorbitant prices, and, if such is the case, as bad as things are they must get worse. Wo had hopes that the continued aud deepening depression would drive the companies to sell the land at reasonable prices, but from all appearances they have no such intention. It is idle to talk,, therefore, of extension of settlement; it is beyond hope, for under existing circumstances no man who understands farming will pay the price at which the land is being offered. There is a great deal said about settling on Crown lands, but where are the Crown lands to settle on ? Nowhere! All the land worth having for farming purposes bp either been sold or is reserved for education purposes, or under lease to runholders, and, talk as we may, it cannot be got at. Any land that is obtainable under the Crown is not worth having. The position is, therefore, this ; the land is locked up, aud if a man has capital, and is desirous of investing it in land, he cannot do so, and must clear away to other colonies where landsharks are not so firmly rooted. It is idle to talk about bringing man with fresh capital into the oopqtfy tp settle on the land, for there is no land to settle on. Ten months ago representative farmers from England came to this colony to select land; they found all the good land taken up then, and consequently they wept away again. Let us, therefore, bo deluded »Q hmgprj }apd worth having cannot be got at except at prices which no one will give at this time. Those who cry put for land settlement mean only to throw dust in people’s eyes, and they have so far successfully done it. j