SETTLEMENT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 168, 27 April 1871, Page 6

SETTLEMENT.

y ( To t}ie Editor.) k-As the Provincial Council t*.is soon to commence, and one fiost important labours is to be tt!. endeavouring to promote the

fe^.of population on the unocpiarids of the province, it may be Kljyj known the efforts of this\ direction, especially efforts have been successe (vise to which I am about

yAse I refer to is the settlement Lgjttle, New Brunswick, pro[by\Dr. Sweeney, Bishop of St. and thus described by John :is Maguire, M.P., in his " Irish

" :—: — the tendency— the ruinous — of his countrymen to conin masses in cities, or to " hang town," as it is generally debeing thoroughly conversant evils resulting from this habit of the Irish immigrant, of St. John determined to eminfluence to induce numbers of to settle on the soil, and thus, simplicity and safety of a rural create for themselves a happy an honourable independence. of the facilities afforded Labour Act, he applied to the for tracts of unoccupied land conditions, one being that he find settlers for this land within a time. His first application was acres, which were to be occuMpeclin twelve months. For this quantity Kr-fcrland settlers were found within the period. A second 10,000 then applied for, and similarly ; and an additional 16,000 acres, obtained by the Bishop, were yet to occupied by those who possessed the j^Boiiite courage to face the difficulties fSS temporary hardships of a new ex Hj^tPnce. There were then in actual occuKgJKon 170 lots, of 100 acres each ; and for the settlers with families, the young men who had not yet eninto the bonds of Avedlock, the of souls in the settlement of might be fairly estimated at the very lowest, — a terrible to the Bishop, if his inhad been unwisely used, but a and a consolation to him if it exercised in a spirit of wisdom manity. Of this the reader can judgment from what follows. settler was required by the State, principal condition of obtaining acves of land to give work to the of sixty doliars, on the public road was to pass by his own door, and for his own advantage ; but so inclined he, could perform of work in one year, he was four years for its completion. he could obtain the registry grant, somewhat analogous to title in Ireland, he be returned by the Commissioner executed this required amount cleared five acres, built a house sixteen feet square, and actually as a resident on the land assigned These conditions had been comHfjd with, in all cases, within the four allowed, but in most they had been B^jaiied in two years, and by a considerH^e number of tho settlers in a still time. When the return is made Bfy ihe Commissioner, who visits the ■settlement cice a year, the grant is then ■proully registered and issued, and the ■settler becomes tiie fee-simple proprietor Kdi 100 acres of land, the property of himIfelf and his family, and of which no on earth, can deprive him or them. HjljldApiiorman be fortunate enough H&fl father of one, or two, or more sons, of of eighteen or upwards, he can 100 acres for each of them on the conditions ; and although a large is regarded with horror by your uf the old country, it is a HRssing of inestimable value in a new Kountry, in which human labour — that Brrandesl; of fertilisers and mightiest of ■ iivlliaers — finds its true appreciation. F> Mr. Maguire goes on to say that in L*wo years nearly all the colonists had ■Ryariplied with the conditions, and J possessed the fee-simple property of I their holdings free from encumbrance ; I that many of them had built large- \ framed houses, fully equal to the best [.farm houses in any part of New L ,Srruns\Y"k'k. Hestates that on the day of his visit, " fat cattle to the value of were sold by Johnville settlers

tqjjuyers from the United States. He says : — According to the census, taken at the instance of the Bishop, the estimated tenlue of the land cleared, with the stock, produce, and the buildings, up to the of 1855, was £14,500— an immense Hrn, when it is remembered that up to

H|ay, J862, there had been but one (Hugh M'Cann and his wife) in the settlement, and it was not until 1863 ■ that the greater number of resideuts ■ had ventured into the forest. It ■ wa3 supposed that the estimate for ¥ 1866 would have reached £20,000. And E. Jif such be the result of few years — three Hfljftour at tlie very utmost — of patient instimulated by the certainty of and the security of its possession, ■what may not be looked for ten years ■hence, when science and matured ex- ■ perience are brought to the aid of human ■ toil and manly energy 1 | Further on Mr". Mag.uire tells us : — [ The settlement of Johaville is but one I of four which Dr. Sweeney established I within a recent time. He has thus \. succeeded, in establishing, as settlers, ba- ' 'tween 700 ahd 800 families, or, at an average of five persons to each family, between 3SOO and 4000 individuals: The rcfescription given of Johnville would generally apply to the other settlements ; ■ £ the difference, whatever it might be, I 1 arising more from the quality of the - land than any other cause. ; Now, sir, compare tfiia mode of ' settlement with ours. Here we have s machinery cost'v, cumbrous and in- j j| effective, laying hold in the old country ■f any emigrant they cau ; bringing at large cost ; presenting to reasoial'le fa.ilitiesforssttle-

ment when here, either in the acquisition of land on easy terms, or in a sufficiency of good roads, &c. ; then allowing the more valuable portion to carry their intelligence and energy elsewhere, and the worthless portion to loaf about Duuedin — an encumbrance and a nuisance at public meetings, &c. Mark, too, the happy idea as to the roads in Johuville. The settlers make the roads without cost to the Government, and, being themselves the greatest users of them, have the greatest possible interest in making them well.

I believe the people of New Brunswick to be happy, prosperous, and progressive, and the Government effective and solvent. Of the authorities here the less we say the better ; but surely we may not unreasonably ask — Can there be any sufficient reason why the Government of Otago may not do, with English, Scotch, and Irish colonists, what the Government of New Brunswick has done with Irish. — I am, &c, > B.