The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1886. WHY SETTLEMENT LAGS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2468, 4 December 1886, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1886. WHY SETTLEMENT LAGS.

IK our last issue we indicated 'soma of the weak points of Mr Ballanoo's settle: mont schemes. In spito of that apparent activity which is lauded by Sir 0. M.Park, there'is a litUe lagging. Town sections nre at a premium, and rural sections at»discount, the right kind of wprkingjettlera are few, and idle speculators are many. ' Another drawbaok to the settlement of the bush country is the Native difficulty. E!cetahuna is situated on the Makakahi; river, which is the eastern bouudary of a large Native block. A mile to the north of the township the Makakahi crosses the main road, and then for a long stretch of road the Native lands extend op either side. The European settlers it the back of the Native land

iv« nil lit oil' fro in aecßSs to the main' road by a.strip of virgin bush, the propi rty of the Maoris, Ogining to the Puhiatim neighborhood the Makitkahi Qt'Oßsen the main, roiid again, and then at last on either side oi it there is European settlement and progressive clearings, Between Eketahuna and Pahiatua the white set tiers are i avisi ble. They, are in the.baokgi'onnd under the lee of the Native Reserves, atid the passenger by coach apparently pauses through an uninhabited primitive region which affords no indication of industrial enteiptise, and yet there are numbers of settlers within half a mile of the road. They are, however, shut out from it by the dense native bush. It the Government get this belt of bush down and sold it, the whole aspect of the country would be changed. Buildings innumerable would dot the roadside, and travellers would realize that they were passing through a go ahead district where labor and capital might be profitably invested. Mr Ballarico ought to expropriate this nativo bar to settlement as soon as possible. Our local contemporary holds that tho existing settlement is being effected ou |iaes that will make "everything and everybody prosperous," but we are not prepared to take ;this singularly sanguine view of it. ■ We .never know jobbing and financing yot to effoct a satisfactory settlement. With mock indignation our contemporary has accused us of libelling the character of tho working men but he ought to know that we have an unbounded I respect, admiration and regard for 'the working man proper.' We may draw ut line between the working man and the loafer and our contemporary on the the principle that all are fish that come to his net, may not draw a line between the two, but that is the only difference between us on this point. We can see now a struggle going on in the bush districts between the industrious and thrifty workers, and the idle prodigal speculators. If the latter held on long enough thoy will strangle the former. We take the side of the industrious thrifty workers and our contemporary backs the idle and improvident sottlers who are endeavouring to make headway by scheming, rather than hard work. The Bush country is fertilo and will do a good deal, but it will not feed too many drones for any considerable length of time,{and while there are too many drones in the hive settlement must lag. The following remarks on settling land which wo have extracted from the leadiug columns of the Waipawa Mail show that we are not singular in the view wo havo taken of Mr #allauoo'a projects''No blessing has yot existed but what [has been turned >to wrong account by the corrupt, and made wrong uso of by the unscrupulous. The epeciiil settlement scheme in .not an exception., In the neighborhood oi Woodville, tracks of countiy have beou taken up under its provisions, purely for Bpeoulative purposes. The mode of purchase has in many cases been directly at variance to the spirit of the Act. - The so-called h^ve. been known to be men whose only object is to seoiiro good land at less than its real value; to sell it again, and so make a profit that ought to be reaped by the 'State,. So, whilst we thank Mr Ballanco for his special settlement scheme we mtlst remember that it has its disadvantages as well as good points. Some slight alterations were made in the Nativo Land Laws, and if these result in native lands being converted into freeholds and settled upon by good white settlers in reasonably sized blocks, then we shall have nothing to Bay against them. But the general impression is that Mr Balance's amendments in this direction are of a nature that makes them unpopular with all the different classes of landed people, as well as with those who desire to secure'land but cannot do so, On the one haud the European lessees who now occupy native land say that Mr Billanoe makes more threats than it lies within his power to carry ont. Ou the other, the small capitalists are still wandering about and still complain i that it is utterly impossible for them to settle on suitablo farms, in spite of the many promises of reform which were given them by the Liberal Ministers. i It come* to ibis, practically, that although many professions have been made of future improvements ond alterations, nothing of any real importance has boen accomplished. And the Crown lands, —the waste lands belonging to the State, which bo much need to be worked and improved and settled upon, are still the wilderness that they used to be. It it for this absence of practical results that we blame the policy of the present Minister foi'Latids. We may take exception to his schemes if. they ure coeroive, and we may oiiticise him iti a variety of ways But the worst possible oomplaint that can be urged is the one we ;now bring forward, viz,, that while Mr Ballance is casting his net in the waters to secure a new and comprehensive land settlement scheme, no practical advancement is being made in tho settlement of Crown and other virtually waste lands in this colony."