THE LAND QUESTION.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 356, 16 May 1874, Page 3

THE LAND QUESTION.

{To the Editor) Sib. — It is a matter of the deepest regret that*no future land legislation can beneficially effect, to any extent, some of the finest districts in the interior, as the lands have already been parted with, and are -just* as littlcglikely in time to come to resound with the hum of civilised occupation as one of the Duke*»f Sutherlands deer forests. To use a Vulgar, but expressive phrase, those fine districts have been already " cooked " under the somewhat clumsy manipulations of Provincial chefs dt- cuisine of the most pronounced " clodocratic " as well as "woologarchic" predilections. There are still some few patches remaining, however, which it is -sincerely to be hoped the Government will not send Mr. M'Kerrow to report as " unfit for agriculture," "purely pastoral land " &c. While fully admitting that Wardens and Surveyors are all very well in their way, I would beg the Government to believe that if people are themselves willing to take up, reside upon, and pay for land thus solemnly pronounced "unfit for settlement '" by such Authorities, it is manifestly their plain duty to give every facility for doing so", and -to dis- , continue the farce of sending officials to pronounce upon what is generally considered a foregone conclusion. I remember that during the last session of the Provincial Council a member distinguished chiefly for hit uncompromising defence of the interests of his class, got up in his place in the Council, and stetajfpinquestioned that 200 acres of •neb land was insufficient to support a family. Tkit is really quite too paternal! If like a Mongolian gardener, am content to extract my living from an acre of cabbages; why should anybody have the power to say, nay ? If men are themselves content to take up and occupy twdW 200 acres, surely they ought to have .liberty to do so, and if the event should Acove the truth of such assertions, as that tptode by the honorable member referred to, then, let those misguided and wrong headed •electors' be themselves the sufferers. One of the principal reasons why many respectable^ families in "tolerable circumstances emigrate, is, that in a new country they may at least hope to remain together, or that no great distance shall separate them ; whereas if they continue at home from causes which it is not neceßsary to specify, the younger branches are certain to take Bight from the land of their "birth. Already New Zealand is begining to present the peculiarity of the Home country, and it is becoming a serious question -with the heads of families themselves perhaps tolerably well to do, how they are to give a etart in life to their rapidly growing up children, It will shortly become as much a necessity for the ". sons of the soil" to emigrate to Fiji, New Guinea, &c., as it is now for the same class in ''poor Tasmania" to seek fresh fields, Even now there is a quiet exodus to Queensland and other places, of the most valuable of all colonists, viz., those who have had years of experience, and who have saved some little capital, and from intimate knowledge of the class required I have no hesitation in saying, that should, the news from the Palmer be anything, like what is »nticipated,aconsiderablerush from our shores will let in ere long in that^jdirection. This lon of population will be but poorly compensated by the arrival of any number of inexperienced and . mostly -city-bred people •ueh as we now receive. I think a principal cause of the disposition now evinced by what may be called " our own pepple " to wander sway to other colonies, may be traced to the neglect of the Government to give proper facilities for settlement. It is very certain that if a man obtains that much coveted possession "a section of the planet "it will - take tome considerable temptation to induce him to roam abroad. ; On account of the constantly increasing facilities for inter-jcommunication between the various colonies and the South Sea Islands, it is rapidly coining to this:— That if any ecleny or Island present an advantage for settling or money-making over another, the . facilities afforded will be readily availed of by large numbers of -the hardy and adventurous workers . of the other colonies. It may consequently.- be predicted with certainty that - «nlera a great change is effected in the working of the laws affecting the "disposal of laud, this countryisatpresentengaged in the ruinous -fame of paying the passage of numerous immigrants, who it may be assumed will save 'money »t the present high rate of wages ; money that will enable them, to pay their . passages to other and .more attractive fields, M soon as the least slackness in work or redaction in wage* sets in. And yet some ihortoigbted journalists (speaking of the English agricultural laborer),' go the length of laying that it if quite enough if we get immicrante out here to share in the present iH-osperiiy forgetful of the fact that unlew - »«fi*wifl»t»elj enable them to go the more f2tj M *bj other colony, where they may - .uuflpio they oao better their. position; ' Even <fc§ jrtrawt lehaien of %lfr Immigration

and EuMifiJ^Vorks policy admit fc jj at present fiey33ay of prosperity cannot continue. There is another matter to which I beg leare to direct public attention. Recent experience has prored that even when lands hare been - shown, to be indisputably suited for pastoral purposes., only it is not by disposing of them privately in large blocks, that tho G-orernment and the country can reap the adrantages, they are entitled to derire from them. It is by leasing them in blocks of say from 1,000 to 4,000 acres according to the natural configuration of the country, that the largest amount of revenue will be gathered into the Treasury and the true prosperity of the State promoted, It is for the Provincial Council now to decide whether the remainder of the lands of this Province are to become the property of a few wealthy absentee capitalists whose interests lie in letting it remain an unpeopled wilderness; or on the other hand, taking advantage of the numbers of people at present pouring into the country, attach them as well as older residents, to the soil by every possible tie, and make Otago, what it is from ts natural resources surely entitled to become, the home of a numerous, happy, and contented population. — I am, Ac., Aegtts.