THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1892. VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2362, 28 May 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1892. VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

WiiEXicvicii Tory papers and Tory orators make laud settlement especially the village form of it-—the subject of discussion, they generally

exhaust all the adjectives in the English language in praise of the Honorable Mr Kollestoii. lie was the father of it; lie it was who introduced it first of all : to him all the credit is due if we are to believe these oracles.

Now, as a matter of fact, the village settlement was introduced by Mr Thompson, who was Minister of Lands

for a few months in the Government

of Sir George Grey in 1878. Mr Rolleston took up the scheme a year or two later. if the truth were known, we believe Sir Robert Stout and Mr Ballance are the real fathers of it. But be that as it may. how did the very same people treat the Hon, Mr Ictilleston then V lie was almost as much abused and as often called bad names as the present Minister of Lands is now, and he had to Hy from Avon, which he represented for 11) years, and come to Geraldine for a seat. And after all, what was Mr Ilolleston's conception of Village Settlements? Quarter-acre sections, or in rural districts, one solitary acre. Kft did not even rise to the level of three fccfpg and a cow. In Arowhenua he gave quarts acre sections, in Orari one-acre sections, aud no. .911, and his great and generous heart swelled with pride at the glorious benefits he was conferring on the poor. We give him credit for having done good, but his was a paltry, mean conception of what rural Village Settlements ought to be. This was ten years ago : there was then immense areas of Crown lands available, but Mr IJollcstoi) could not

see that a poor man ought to have move than between a quarter of an I u& ;.p and a full acre of it. He believed ir. wab hHlvy to dispose of it in large areas to man of wealth. Mr Rolleston fell, but the .settlements developed. The Hon. Mr lJailance, a larger lieart and broader '*\.iu' o s, quadrupled the areas sympathy. ' * ~ ' , . "ranted l,y'3lr .H ollestoll wherever he could, "and then utln P" . fo ., f ° ri " special settlements in which be aln^ 1 ™ from 50 to 100 acres to the settlers. On these settlements lie spent some £(W.)00 or so, and an Htnck was made on him as violent as if be had stolen I the money and converted it to his own I use. Jn the very middle of his work,. 1 exactly when lie had perfected his .scheme and was carrying it out u'ith considerable success, lie was turijed out of office, and the Hon. Mr Richardson came fully determined to destroy the work Mr Rallance had done. He imm«dhiteiy stopped further extension of it, bijt in spite of liarrasing restrictions being placed on them, and in spite of losing the cherishing influence of their k'w<ily promoter, they flourished. The Canter bury runs fell into the market, during the cmrency of Mr Richardson's ten," of office, and instead of trying to settle the people on such parts of them as were fit for settlement, they were dummied into the hands of moneyed i men and moneyed corporations. Had the Honorable Mr Jiallance remained in power all the land which was dummied then would have been settled now. and many men who left the colony, would have been living in their own homes in this fruitful land at the present time. The Hon. John' 1

McKenzie succeeded Mr Richardson in administering the Land Department, and his large-hearted generosity, and , his Liberal sympathy with the weaker, portion of his fellow-colonists is manifested in his works. No miserable quarter-acre sections for him, but ten. fifty, one hundred and two acres according to circumstances. The restrictions, shackles, and impediments are once more removed, aud the Liberal John McKenzie walks in the footsteps of the Liberal John Ballance, yet people will say that one set of men is as good as another, and that it does not matter to the working man which party is in power. Mark the difference between what Mr Richardson did and what Mr McKenzie is doing. Mr Richardson allowed the land to fall into the hands of moneyed men ; Mr McKenzie finding he had no Crown lands, bartered with the commissioners of education until he secured land in the Waimate district. Is there no difference in this ? Is this no good to the working man? In Waimate now there are seventy-six sections of splendid land ranging in areas from ten to forty acres, and on these he intends to settle seventy-six families. The rents, too, are very reasonable. The land has hitherto been let, and some of it, which was leased at twenty-five shillings, will be given to the man who M'ill be lucky enough to .secure it now at sixteen shillings per acre, and the rents will in all cases, be reduced in a similar way. From this it will be seen that not only does Mr McKenzie desire to settle the land, but also that settlers shal' not be harrassed by heavier burdens than they can bear. Would Mr Richardson have done this? Most undoubtedly he would not. Is it any good to the seventy-six settlers who will secure sections M Waimate that the change of Government has taken place ? Will the town of Waimate benefit by the settlement of all these men in its vicinity ? Will working men generally benefit by some of themselves being thus settled ? Let us for instance suppose that ten working men from Temuka secure sections in Waimate, they will leave this district, and give the men who remain behind them a better chance of earning wages. It is a great pity we cannot get similar settlements in this district, but there is no land, and there will not be until the leases of the Education reserves fall due. If, then, the lion. John McKenzie is Minister of Lands there can be no doubt that he will form settlements; if, on the other hand, Mr Richardson is Minister, there is no chance of it. These facts will show that, it matters a great deal who is in or out of office.

ELECTKIC LIGHT. We publish in another column the report of a scheme for lighting the town of Balelutha with electricity. it appears to us that it would suit Temuka and Geraldine admirably, and recommend it to the attention of the public. All the information at our command will be found in the extract referred to. and from this it will be seen that it would be wonderfully cheap. Kerosene is cheap enough now, but electricity would be a great deal cheaper. There is, besides, greater risk as regards kerosene. It requires careful handling to prevent fires occurring through it. There would be no risk as regards electricity, and no doubt the insurance companies would take this into consideration. It appears to us that it would be specially suitable for Temuka, because, in addition to the electric light, the same plant would do to supply the town with watc-F, For the last ten years there has been a great deal of talk about a water-supply, but we are no nearer to it now than we were then. If we were to get the plant referred to above Ave could combine the electric-lighting and water-supply, and the advantage to the town would be great. The whole question is, How are we to raise £2000? There are two ways : get up a private company or let the Town Board take the matter in hand For our own part we thought it would be far better to let the Town JJ(?ard undertake it. Recently it was eh&v/ij that gas was supplied to Glasgow by cue City Council for half the price it is supplied to London by Companies. Of course, liiui i.«< y»ly reasonable, for the London Companies ftJMSf pay dividends to their shareholders, wliiU flfß Ojty Council. needs only to charge sufficient to, pay ; its way. In the same manner our j loeaj Town Hoards could carry out the pr,(^>£ ( Q d scheme cheaper and | better thai] ft« v v e«;»)»any. Let the Town Boards b.oZTW ttyjHWW', lt \ can be easily obtained t'ruil) inlyaie j individuals at ti per cent, that is 2 p? r j cent, cheaper than the estimate, and thus thtsro j.s no difficulty in the way if the boards haye power to borrow. The thing at any rate js worth considering, and we hope the public will do so.