LIVE, AND LET LIVE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1770, 31 July 1888, Page 2

LIVE, AND LET LIVE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib, —When I came to New Zealand 13 years ago the agent asked me what I was ; I said “ A miner.” He said, “Go south.” Now this was a pretty kettle of fish to send a miner south where there were no mines. I had to get. up black pine stumps or sink wells to get a living. Through Canterbury there is not a township where a squatter has not his thousands of acres of the flower ef the land. You will find in all these townships plenty of quarter-acre farmers, i hey get up in the morning; there is nothing for them to do, while the squatter is laughing at them. The cry of the squatter is “ immigration,” when there are thousands of quarteracre farmers who cannot keep the wolf from the door. There are plenty of men in Geraldine that have not earned a shilling this last seven weeks this winter. I earned eight shillings in 13 days, and yet I left a good billet in England (£7O a year). There are two millions more money borrowed, which means eighty thousand pounds more interest; and they are going to tax tea and sugar, and candles, and snuff, and I fear they are going to raise the duty on tobacco. If they do I would advise every mother’s son “to put the pipe down. Now, what ha's this retrenciunent done? It has driven thousands of our men to the gold and silver mines in Australia.