The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1881.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 949, 14 December 1881, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1881.

If tliero ia one thing more than another which Rives U3 confidence in the future of New Zealand it is the marked improvement which is now apparent in ppeuing up and settling Crown Lands, If we contrast tlio old Provincial system - with the new County methods, it will be found that the former ia inferior to the latter in every respect, As an illustration of I lie ol d Provincial work we may cite a road which was laid off through bush country,; from the Lower Hutt to Pahautanui, nearly twenty years ago. Of this line it may bo said that a cart cannot to this day pass through it. The sections on it were also laid off on too Bmall a soale, so that men who settled on them, found that lliey woro starved 011 the forty acres which they took up, and one by one they gave up their holdings till nit one in ten of those who thought to make Belmont their permanent homes are now to be found in the neighborhood. Another drawbick . was the road itself, A nice line was laid off on paper, but it was one which could not be formed by pick and shovel, and so another course had to be taken, wi iding amongst the sections and cutting them up in all directions. One man's allotment would be all frontage and he would break his heart trying to fence it in, another man had no frontage at all and wits compelled to purchase a slice from his neighbour to enable him to obtain access to tha road. The result of all this was the failure of tho settlement, and now a few men of means like Sir William Fitzherbert have bought up the sections once occupied by small holders, and many a crumbling cottage along the line ia the only indication which remains of the people who once lived and worked in this district. The County Council of Wairarapa . .West avoids, all these faults which have been so conspicuous in the past. Tho principles on which they settle land are—lst, laying off practicable road lines before the sections are surveyed, so that every section has its proportion of road frontage; 2nd, making a good bush road through bush country before tho land ia sold, so that settlers on it can at onco have communication with a market, and may not be subjected to the hardships which were formerly endured by tho Mauriceville pioneers; Brd, having the land laid off in sections of such a size as will enable» family to get a living off one, or, in other words, substituting hundred-acre sections for the old forty-acre allotments. It sometimes, however, happens that, even with all those advantages, there is a difficulty in gettine Bottlers to take upjCiwn lands, n'fod' tho Council being anxious, no only that the land should be settled, butt that each person who settles on it should have a fair chance of establishing himself, haß gone a step further, and, in one instance, has recently offered a novel inducement to theworking settler. It has decided to clear the bush five chains in depth ou either side of a road two miles in length, and burn off and grass down the clearing, Thus, a man taking up a section along this road can at once besdn to make a living off it, It is also gratify- • ing to find that tho Government has approved of the experiment being made, and we feel sure that it will be attended with' the best results. The importance of the work of settloinent now being carried out by the County cannot'bo overeatnmited, Money is being well and wisely, spent 1 wßicli was formerly, from the. ignorance j

and tlifl County Engineer- are woVking togother intelligently and the rapid development of a vast field of seltlemont, in which; both capital and labor will reap a harvest.