NORTH WAIRARAPA COUNTY SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1591, 24 January 1884, Page 2

NORTH WAIRARAPA COUNTY SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.

A meeting of this association was held at the Institute. .last evening,, and was fairly. well 'attended, Mr R. S. Hawldns (tho President) being in the chair,

Tho Secretary read a letter from the the Railway Department stating that the matter of truck accommodation, brought under its notice by the association was receiving attention, and that tho association appeared to be misinformed as to tho Masterton goods shed being closed early on Saturdays. It was open till 2 p.m. Tho President pointed out that draymen from tho country could hardly reach tho station by 2 p.m. on Saturdays. The subject then dropped.■

The President then congratulated members of the Association on attaining to the year 1884. He was sorry they could not begin, the year more auspiciously, but the same commercial depression which, was experienced when the Association was floated still continued, and tho fintiiicial position of tho colony was, if anything, still more unsatisfactory. Tlio,' low price of their staplo product, . wool, was being aggravated by bad weather. A still moro serious ciVil, if tho present weather continned, threatened the agriculturalists of the district. He also regretted to hear that ■ the turnip crop in many* cases was proving a failure. Ho t might add that tho frozen meat industry was in a very unsatisfactory position unless action be taken to sewrre?, better distribution of it in London. As the trade now stood it added little or nothing to the wealth of tho country. He was sorry to hear that the ft nit harvest, too, was s failure, but was glad to hear that Nelson had esci iped the storms that they had experienced, and would havo a plentiful supply. If they turned to colonial and J.Qcal administration they found little 1 to comfort them, He regretted that- they heard no declaration of a poli .cy from any recognised leader of the opposition ■ party. Another mill ion was to be at the disposal of tho .administration to keep it in power, anc 1 by the end of the year : they would fii nd more' miles of useless railway const jructed, which would tax them for tho : cost of maintenance. In' the meantiro te, large areas of waste land remainei 1 idle and unproductive. In local admi nitration, they were suffering from a want of a clear and opm-

prehensivoippiicyj ev%-small locality. the settlement ofjffi :£>£local government. H||itett his colleague!*, in with referenceipi their^linW ? authority, the"' county*' believing thai reform was better for it than abolition. He hoped the members of the association wonld.by tlieir action stimulate the'interest taken generally in this district in public affairs, - -lie ."concluded";'by 1 wishing'' them all a ; ; happy, new. year, notwithstanding. tito gloomy prospects to which • he had referred, . ~ i > ■

The' next' question" oft- tlie order paperwas that of ' ■ . ;;

' ; -• .WAST?!USDS; 'i ; The President l said lio : would have liked somo: of'the i delegates to - bring this subject before the meeting, but the fact was they could'iiot agree as to their report, They were discontented with the existing administration, but they were not agreed as to any particular measure of reform.'' He then read somo figures bearing on the question, as it was too important a matter to shelve altogether.' Mr Dagg explained that the reason why . the delegates did not make a recommendation to the association was because the question was an important one, and they had not as yet' mastered the facts and data necessary for their guidance.

The President referred to the parliamentary debates to show, that'a change in the constitution of Waste Lauds Board was demanded.' The twentyfour million acres of Unsold laud should not be left to the administration of Boaixls which had been, generally condemned. Ho argued that the small balance of the land'fund left for' the construction of roads, indicated mismanagement, He declared that the members of the land boards. were the nominees of the' Government. He complained that land,had been devoted to favor private railway companies which reduced, the income derivable from tho land fund, and that when the Government buy these railways back, tho companies' would keep the land. It would be far better for the Government to get rid of their waste lands to settlers even at a small rato instead of paying rates on theiu and' employing men to keep down the rabbits. He would be glad -for the Association to hear Mr W, H. Boetham's views, who took a good deal o( interest in this question.

Mr W, H; Beethain said lie hold strong views 011 the land question. His idea with regard to. land, asf every thing else, was to liavo free trade.in it. It was a mistake for tlio Government to bottle up their lands for a future generation. It had been supposed that companies and single individuals owned enormous tracts , of land, and wero' making largo fortunes out of them, This he denied, A man who held land for speculative.'purposes now: would very soon bo brought to the Bankruptcy Court. To illustrate land speculation lie cited the case of a Wellington Land Company which owned 7000 acres of good land on the East Coast, The Company bought it at seven shillings and sixpence per acre, and after holding it many years, recently sold it at four shilliugs and sixpence, shewing that it did not pay to hold land for speculative purposes. The same rule applied to the Government ! Why should thev hold land and make no use of it'( The sooner it was. in the hands of people who would make it productive the better. The Government.would have to offer land, such land as thatiii the Forty-Mile Bush at a low figure—at a tempting figureto get it settled. He thought it was a great mistake to bottle the land up, but he did not know that his'views would influence tlio Government. If they would ho would advise putting up all the laud and letting anyone who had the pluck to. do it to go in and select the best spots, picking it here and there, and not force a man to occupy a piece of indifforent land. Some men wero unable to judge the quality of bush land, What he knew of that forest was that it was very patchy, some of it was very good and some worthless. He did not object to limiting the size of sections, but he would not limit the number of them. It would be a very rich man who would buy a block there and let it remain unproductive, He did not desire to limit the quantity any one man should hold; all he wanted was that it should be made productive instead of being a burden to the country by harboring rabbits and scabby slieep. It seemed to him that the question' was one of the survival of the fittest, Why should they handicap an industrious and,enterprising man, and bring him to the level of an idle one by limiting the aiea he could hold t In tli'e south the Government proposed to limit the holdings on certain blocks to 5000 acres. These blocks, which could be occupied profitably as a whole, whon split up would bo worthless.' Ho believed chat tlie Government were biassed by theory of "land for tlio people," and feared to be blamed if they encouraged large holdings, He cited the Ituangaroa property as one which had been subdivided and offered to the people, who would not take it up. He did not think there was a single' l bid for it : when Mr Martin put it up. This showed that the cry for cutting up large estates was • not a just one. To hold largo properties and not to work them, properly was a certain loss not only to, private. individuals, but also to the Government. He believed settlers in country districts would confirm this opinion. No doubt people living in centres of population did not realise this state of things,—( Applause.) Mr A. E. Bunny thought that the government in dealing with the waste lands question, should have first in view, settling population. No hard and fast rule should be adhered to in settling land, Some portions of this colony were suited to small holdings and should be treated differently to other parts, which wore only fitted to be dealt with in , large areas. The Forty-mile-bushand Puketoi was suited for smallholdings, if thsy were opened up, by roads and bridges. It would pay the Government to settle such country by opening-it up. He thought the questions of scab and rabbits were

minor matters, Scab only existed in a fowspots through tlio'colony, and rabbits, he understood, did not penetrate very far-in heavily timbered land,; lie approved of the Government sellinglarge blocks of land to the pioneer settlers of the colony, but now tho question of populating the country was a more important consideration.. (Applause.) "" At this stage of the proceedings the meeting was constituted a farmers' club.