TROGLODYTE CREEK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 366, 20 June 1874, Page 2

TROGLODYTE CREEK.

Rockhopper House, 3rd June, 187 i I have not written to you for a considers^], time, as I preferred waiting until our olj friend and monitor, Pumpernickel, had fu], filled a promise that he had made some tinu ago. The old fellow is with me now ; and h* already supplied me with' the materials for, pretty long letter, which I hasten to place n your disposal. ' He is not tho feast changedjj appearance or manner ; while it is a real trest to watch the workings of the ruddy phiz i that staunch old antagonist of G-ood Teg, plarism, as lie takes his seat upon the W side of an empty beer barrel, wagging his c* tooth with the consciousness, of having tin optics of all Troglodyte ' Creek upon him while he gives forth to the world those woi4 of matured wisdom that have exercised sutj beneficent influences on the councils of tfc> "country. " The Holloway's Pill," he began, " thu was administered by the Roxburghites, do, not seem to have agreed with the constitution of the Provincial Executive ; in fact, tin cathartic properties of the bolus appears ti have had an effect contrary to that which intended by the conclave who prescribed t\ dose.' Nayi I believe that, "in compound^ the ingredients, they have imbibed somej their properties, judging from the painful elongated visages one meets at almost eren turn in [Roxburgh. At the same time, it aj pears that the very high compliments paid fe Mr. Warden Simpson's judgment as an agij culturist and geologist by a discriminate few, seems to hare aroused the spleen of Hj four or five hundred persons, who presume t)» represent the majority of the Mount Bengj residents. They seem to have gotten the ci by the wrong horn, as it was owing to thtj that the memorial to the Provincial Execs tive, signed by every resident of the Moua Benger District, praying for a re-surrey of tl Millers Flat Block, was forwarded to Dim din. I fancy they have gone slightly bejou their depths, or Mr. Warden Simpsoß sagacity is at fault. Poor Bengerites ! I the Warden is correct in his estimate of ft capabilities of the land, you will have to hid your diminished heads behind the tea at sugar bags, &c., that constitute the soura from which your mental pabulum is derived and the whilom declaimers against the corrnp manner in which the lauds of the provia are dealt with, must, by this time, hai realised the fact that the sun does not n every morning to hear them crow ; and, ho* ever, they may strut and clap their wings the Warden still holds his own as Rooster-u Chief of that barnyard. " Since my last visit here," he continued " I have devoted a goeat deal of attention I that knotty preblem ' The Land Question There is not a doubt but the manner in whii the subject has been bungled with constituti it the one great grievance of the Provina and is the scource of much discontent so grumbling. The great hopes, at one tjtve ii dulged in by intending settlers, tw^tu would have the same chances and ent^ra ment as their more fortunate fellow-colonis who had leased sheep runs, induced many I invest all their spare cash in horned stock ; i that by, the time the lands were declared opt for settlement, they would be in a position! farm their sections profitably by the aid i their cattle, so as to retain to the soil tt phosphates and ammonia, so vitally necessu to successful agriculture. Years have paw since these hopes have been stultified ; an now I will point out some of the evils whit have resulted from faith not having ba kept to a large number of the present pop* lation of the country. " At the time I speak of, cattle command! very high prices; and men who intendi stock raising on a small scale were induced I bid high for breeding cattle to make a sti with. In the course of time, their sin herds began to increase, they still ' hops against hope' for the chance of settlii when down comes the squatter upon the making them] pay one pound sterling p head per annum, that their stock might hii tha privilege of grazing on the roots of 6 grass that the sheep had eaten to the grow After two or three years had elapsed, th (the squatters) graciously reduced the eh*] to ten shillings per head per year, at whi price persons are allowed to run their sta up to the present time. During this perio a few blocks of land were opened up i settlement, some of which were eaga bought up by capitalists, and the remand if there was the remotest chance of makinj livelihood ont of it, was immediately oecopi by bonafide settlers. Of course those ii were fortunate enough to secure sections h at once the means of keeping a few head i stock ; but the others, and by far the mo numerous section of the community, wa forced to sacrifice every head beyond one I two that was really requsite for hod hold purposes, or keep on breeding j« after year, for 'no earthly benefit I themselves, as it was impossible to turn « fat stock for the market, and the price) store cattle at three ream old barely g« them 10s. per head fop their trouble and ri the balk of the proceeds going to the squall for agistment. Well, in one instance* at la the -Provincial Elective made an effort toaß J;he state of affairs. They threw open » commonage some few thousand acres abo the snow line — gratuitously adding insult injury, as anything drawing the breath of B could not possibly., pxist there during I months of tne year ; *whilst the people *1 had been- sacrificed by the non-realisation the promises made them hy the GovenunS were treated as a contumacious, dissatict community, because they refused to sfl themselves of the means offered by Clone ment of being ruined with a greater faciß than they" were in the enjoyment (?) of. H whole proceeding, so far, on the, part ofti Executive, with respect to the land admin tration, seems to have been a deliberate im to the understandings of the general com* nity. They have in several instances pis* land in the the market for selection and m and as repeatedly withdrawn it. Had 0* carried out their original intentions with t spect to the various blocks offered to v public, the men whom they have mada d» satisfied grumblers would now have bf« thriving and contented supporters of v institutions of the country : they would b»* had s sufficiency of land for grazing and «g? cultural purposes, and, without clashing i any way with existing interests, would h« largely added to the revenues of thepronnc ana have also given valuable aid to tMB gration scheme by nominating thftif^M friends and- relations in the old country. S retrospect is not a pleasing one. The quest*) that suggests itself at the present time * How shall we remedy the evils we compl* l of? What steps should be taken to pi* every man who has the mean?, and *« desires it, upon the land ? I noticed one « Mr. Vogel's pet schemes is the borrowing ! sum of money for the purpose of divfrtin the Polynesian trade to New Zealand. No* that may be all Y«y well in its w ay, Imt th«

wv&MJiMM'd"iMidtf "tln^ Msrraitfifo inter* I „:4 ifwroi>^BWJiJMiTrfi" It is nrssiimeil *T*^t- 1 b&ttuiM n Ibmm of runs is, ' !lli|P#^lflMed **& *• «*«P»«1 by flWPtUallikw <ttta ft* requirements of the eoanuuiity necessitate the cancelling of such IbbJM, whether before or after the expiration of tW term of yean mentioned in men leases. K«9f, if it v necessary for the furtherance of > s w* fß&eral prosperity that the land should t 'bi^teeopied by the agriculturist before the ■ -':*»«■» of the squatter expires, let there be a Mflainilcam placed upon the Estimates to boy op the squatting privileges as they are stated, so that one of the most necessary nqmremente of a young country. mVy^be fully attended to. (It is certainly a paradox baring to buy what in abready tout own ; yet one most pay something to the squatters for renewing their leases before the old ones had expired.) It is well known there are many thousands of acres in the proTinoe that are unfit for the plough: but let the land be clantted and thrown open for selection according to its ralue; and whether it is arable or grating land, I am perfectly certain that erery acre would be occupied, and following up the system already initiated at Tuapen and Lake Wakatip, we should be one of the most thriring communities in New Zealand. There does not appear to me to be «nything Utopian in this scheme. It will be . the salvation of the country when the present fictitious prosperity fthall We passed away, for . depend upon it, notwithstanding her coastal trade, Dunedin's permanent prosperity rests upon her trade with ike interior. Besides, the many miles of country for which a vmnky nominal rent is being paid into the Treasury, would girea tenfold return; our exports would increase in the sane ratio ; our productions under the altecsd circumstances would also keep paoe with our wants) abettor system of agriculture, and breed «f stock, wouki be inaugurated ; Whilst th» increased revenue would compensate a hundredfold for the oatssj and interest necessary for carrying oottlMsdMme; aad hut, but not least, the > country would be eared, some exceedingly heavy sons by the Abolition of the use of such large quantities of "soothing syrup," that our member* «f the Executive find it so necessary to dispense upon every official visit they pay to the country districts. — Yours truly, Thbodosius Gxmn>«BßOTz.