THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1893. LAND SETTLEMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2598, 26 December 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1893. LAND SETTLEMENT.

Popular, as the present Government is in New Zealand, it apppeara to be more so in Australia. This is proved by the fact that Australians are now making overtures to the Ministers for Lands to get land on which they can settle. Recently the Minister for Lands received a letter from an Association of Australians who are desirous of settling iu New Zealand, asking. whether he could apportion to them 100,000 acres, ou which they were ready to settle between 300 and 500 families within the next five years; They proposed to work the land on the co-operative system, in the same way as new Australia is being worked in Paraquay. They wanted the land on a perpetual lease, 100,000 acres to be apportioned first, but they should like a locality in which they could increase this area to 250,000 acres. The Minister for Lands had reluctantly to reply that there was no laud such as they required available in New Zealand at the present time, but if they sent a delegate he would show them the class of land that was available, and do his best to meet them in every way. On ibis subject the Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times interviewed the Minister for Lands, and suggested that Maori territory at East Cape should be given Australians. Mr McKenzie said that the demand for land was greater than could be supplied, and to this the correspondent bears testimony as follows: —

" Subsequent discussion made this remarkable, and in one sense satisfactory, fact apparent. Without fresh legislation it seems likely that there will be a dearth of land for settlement—that the demand will overtake the supply in so far as Crown Lands are concerned. Thus the Awarna block which has been acquired from the natives, over 100,00 acres, has already b en bvW applied for. No less than 26 special settlement associations have lodged applications already, and-these would if satisfied, take all this ianrl from the Bast Cape Maori Lands. This gveaf area of fertile land, which has been hithejt'i,a in the(und^tlirbedpossession of Maoris, has for some time «asfc been under examination by a competent staff of surveyors, who are making the necessary surveys of fche country. tfr iff I believe, the intention of the Minister" of Lands, with the SurveyorGeneral to vis?* and inspect this territory after the holidays. The journey will be rough, but the result shorn* valuable. In the neighbourhood of what is kiI'VWU as the Forty-mile Bush, lying some 70 milee back of Hawke's Bay a large block of native country has been acquired, and this has already been in a large part applied for by special settlement associations. The Horowhenua area is a comparatively small area, on the Wellington-Manawatu railway, 1600 acres, 400 acre 3 of which is to be reserved as a State farm, and the remainder sub-divided into small areas for bush and saw-mill hands. The survey will be commenced immediately.

Last year J. 200 acres were acquired at Waverley for a State farm, but subsequently it was decided fchajb it was nob sufficiently accessible for the purpose. During this year 400 acres have been set apart for the use of the Agricultural Department to test and examine diseases jn stock. It is now decided to subdivide 800 asres into suitable areas under lease in persiej<aity. My inquires tend to show that in the North Island the Land Purchase Act should be made operajfciye as quickly as possible, and that for the South Maud a measure for the equitable resumption #f private estates is inevitable." This is satisfactory ne#S,'and ifsettle--<mt can be pushed ahead in this way n V, " '"rther borrowing New Zealand without... i QaDS an( i bounds. We will prosper by .. "-Colonial Treahave the assurance of tne ~ —*»• to surer that it will not be necessa,.,, borrow for at least the next three years, and if he can manage without it for that time we shall then be in a position that it will not much matter if we have to borrow. If land settlement proceeds as expected our population will increase, and taxation per head will be much less than at present. Trade and commerce will assume large dimensions, and the whole colony will be more prosperous. There is one thing we regret in the whole affair, and that is that the Government have not been able to find some corner on which to settle the Australians. It would be a grand thing to get such a large number of such desirable colonists ready to reduce the wilderness to cultivation. Besides that their co-operation system would prove an object lesson from which better things might ultimately be learned. It is a very healthy sign that a rage for settling on the land has set in ; it is the surest indication that the time is not far distant when New Zealand will be a prosperous an,d a populous, colony, i