Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 352, 2 May 1874, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Thk thirty-third session of the Otago Provincial Council was opened by his Honor the Superintendent on Wednesday last, in a speech which sets forth at once the prosperous state of the Colony, and the satisfactory ooudition of the Treasury. We hail with interest the large balance of £74,818 in the Provincial Exchequer. We do not regard with equal favor the diminution of our landed estate by 258,894 acres, considering that much of that land has fallen into the hands of mere speculators and monopolists. But it is not our purpose to comment at any length on the speech of his Honor : we purpose to devote the little space we have to spare -to that part of his Honor's address which bears on duplicate applications for laud on deferred payments. His Honor's proposal is to set up all duplicate applications under this system to auction. We would guard this measure so as to preserve the inestimable boon which it contains for the behoof of thoae for whom it was intended. If his Honor's proposal be carried out, then farewell to, the question of settling people on the land. A door will be opened for all those evils which have been so prolific under the sale of lands in blocks. The whole of the people's estate will fall into the hands of monopolists, The present law, as it is i in itself and its administration, is powerless to prevent dummyisrn in the leasing of the laud ; and though the Act guards, in a way, the land on deferred payments fur actual settlement, yet, what security have we that its conditions will be observed, and that the provisions of the Act will be enforced 1 If Acts have been, evaded, and they are so under our eyes every day^ what is to hinder the provisions of this Act being evaded 1 With Governments uniformly inclined to play into the hands of the sqnatterß, what is to hinder it? Will the Government, in the event of the contested sections being put. up for sale, see to it that the purchasers are bana fide settlers or occupiers of land 1 Will they put the' parties on oath or solemn declaration that they hold no more thau the legal 200 acres, and that the successful competitor is acting in good faith, and not in the interests of some dummy ? Will they make provision that any one evading the Act, be punished by forfeiting all paid-up deposits and rents on sftid sections ? So long as parties are left to their honor in such matters, all experience shews that they hold honor in very light esteem when Government is the party appealing to honor. He i 3 considered a clever fellow, and worthy of admiration for his' pluck, who can snap the bands of honor in such matters, and acquire 600 or 1000, or 2000 acres of land in the face of Go-

vernment restrictions, and Government has hitherto connived at the cheat. Past experience, therefore, inspires us with a wholesome dread thab this proposal of his Honor is only another blunder to frustrate the ends of another wise and beneficent measure. So far as we are aware, there is no demur to the present method of settling competitive applications — i.c,, by ballot. There is indeed very general complaints against the way the land has been surveyed into blocks of 50 acres only, so that if a man desires to take up the allowance of 200 acres in one block, he cannot go in with a reasonable prosp#»t-of success. "The ballot may so dispose of the allotments within his application that he cannot get his land in one block 5 but this could be obviated by surveying the land in 50, 100, 150, and 200-acre sections, respectively, and then all classes of applicants could be accommodated — the men who would occupy land as a help to other callings, and those who intend agriculture as a calling. We would even go further than an allowance of 200 acres. It is too limited for parties of moderate capital aud administrative talent. As regards the proposal to raise the price of the land, that is another matter on which we do not at present enter k But meanwhile members for the various districts ought to be communicated with to narrowly watch this proposal of his Honor in reference to disposal by auction of duplicate applications, and if possible frustrate it. Without this the proposal contained in hia Honor's address to extend the measure to 100,000 acres per annum will prove only a delusion.

In continuation of our article on the Land Laws of the Province, we may state that theoretically tlie administration of these laws has been devolved upon the Waste Lands Board, but the simple effect of this has been to allow the Government to doas it pleased without incurring responsibility The large blocks that have been sold to serve the exigencies of the Treasury, have been formally sold in accordance with law, but it is now well known that, in such a case, the relegation of the contract to the Board was a merely formal matter, and that each particular block has been the subject of prior negotiation with the Government. The transaction usually arises in the following way :—: — Messrs. Smith and Jones, members of the Provincial Council, have some property, the value of which would be vastly inci'eased by the construction of a road, or bridge, or some other public work. The construction of the particular work forthwith assumes, in their eyes, the character of a great" public undertaking, for the want of which the country is languishing. Messrs. Smith and Jones attended by any stray constituents that happen to be in town, constitute themselves a deputation to wait upon the Government, and urge the construction of this great public work. They see the Superintendent, who is only too glad to grant their request, provided the money can be found. What a delightful thing it is to spend public money, and thereby gain applause and popularity, and go dowu to posterity with the character of a man of progress ! Messrs. Smith and Jones see also the members of the Executive. The Liberal party is weak ; Messrs. Smith and Jones have votes and influence. They must not be refused ; but where is the money to come from ? Meantime, and perhaps unknown to Messrs. Smith and Jones, the Illiberal party also want something ; and a deputation from their party has already acquainted his Honor and the Executive with their requirements. They want to purchase a ten or twenty thousand acre block of land. His Honor and the Executive are equally willing to gain applause and support from them , but the macter will be questioned in the Council. The Government will be in a minority and ousted. A happy thought occurs. If that road is made, Messrs. Smith and Jones will consent to the sale of the block to provide funds. We shall have their support and influence, and the support of the Illiberal members aa well. The proposal is made ; the block to be sold is not in the Electoral District represented by Messrs. Smith and Jones,, but one represented by another Liberal member, whom they cordially hate as a rival, and Messrs. Smith and Jones reluctantly consent. The sale is coiv< Bummated ; the oountry is saved ; the road is constructed ; the Government has a majority of four votes ; and Messrs. Smith and Jones, receive great kudos from their constituents for the construction of a public work, and their virtue has the further reward of an enhajiced value for their acres ; and a whole district is shut up from settlement, and created a sheepwalk for all time, But it may be worth while to consider how our Land Laws are usually framed and dealt with in their pi*ogress towards the Statute Book ; and the first step is in the Provincial Council, where some Liberal Government, thinking it high time that they should possess, something beyond the name, propose that our Land Laws should be altered x in order to give greater facilities for settlement. Something analagous to the same process then occurs. The old laws have been admittedly bad, but they have suited Messrs. Jones aud Robinson from the Taieri. The Hundred system afforded these gentlemen an opportunity in the olden times to buy aa much land as suited them, and use the rest for commonage until they grew rich, and coukl levy more. If any disconsolate land seeker visited a newly proclaimedIlundred, everything in the way of information "was carefully withheld from him ; and if he examined any particular piece of land, thinking it might suit him, Jones and Robinson carefully noted it, and by the time he reached the Land Office to apply for it Mr. Jones or Mr. Robinson had their applications in,

either for the whole block or all that waß valuable in it ; and even if our would-be settler was in time to apply on the same day, the land must go to auction, and could only be obtained by a keen competition. When the danger was past Jones and Robinson quietly allowed their applications to lapse, to renew them when again necessary. A system that suited Jones and Robinson so well must be continued, and embodied in any, new land law ; and now the Illiberal party saw their opportunity. Jones and Robinson knew very little about drafting or interpreting resolutions, and the leaders of the Illiberal party did. Fierce would be the fight and loud the talk in the Council, members would desire to " have back their Georgian, cots," and declare their intention of "dying rather than being slaves ; " but the affair usually ended in what was considered by the Liberal party a compromise, and a set of resolutions would finally be passed at which both parties would affect to grumble, while the Illiberal party were quietly laughing in their sleeves. But another stage has to be passed through. The General Assembly of New Zealand alone can pass Land Laws ; the resolutions had to come before it in the form of a bill, "to be read three times and considered in Committee of each house ; and Avhen it finally becomes law, our Liberal friends saw with regret and astonishment that the pastoral interest had got made into law all the terms of the compromise favorable to themselves, and excised all on which the dreams of freedom had been wasted. And then in the case of any liberal provision having accidentally escaped excision, the Illiberals would forthwith grasp the administration. An attempt has here been made to show a few of the defects of our land system ; but the subject cannot be exhausted within the limits of a newspaper article. The difficulties in the way of amendment are so formidable as almost to intimidate reformers ; but the matter ia also so important as to cull for immediate action. The conclusions that can fairly be drawn are, in the first place, abolish the Waste Land Board and all such vicarious systems, and let the Government meet the people face to face. The Hundred system belongs to a time gone past, has served its purpose, and at present can only result in converting the country into permanent sheep walks — let it die. ]t may be as dangerous now as it has proved formerly to attempt any alteration of the law, and the time must be waited for when the popular infiuetiC9 in the Assembly is in the ascendant. In the meantime carry out the only provision in the Act of 1872 which will at all tend to promote settlement — namely, the deferred payments system — and, above all things, keep a 'vatchful eye upon transactions of the Messrs. Smith and Jones kind.