The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1887. THE UNEMPLOYED.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2503, 18 January 1887, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1887. THE UNEMPLOYED.

We bye been accusal, by political opponents of a desire to throw .cold water on the land" settlement projects of Mr BAU.ANCB.and to undervalue the prospects of many who are engaged in carrying them out, If we have mistaken the conditions under whioh land has been so freely taken up in Wairarapa' North and other parts of the colony %'men who have in 'many instances'been'members of the."unemployed" brigade.we shall be'delighted to acknowledge that we have tain error, but.the experience' of,many years is, we fear, in favor of the conolusiops.at which we have arrived. Wo noticed yesterday that the New Zealand Times, in an exceedingly temperate artioleon settling.the unemployed pn. W. »J» " H P 6o^6 know their business, an# aye placed hi favorable circumstances for.carcyhjg it on fc h/tve,to strain '. every .nerv,e',t6 e.uc-. cWd-JH* .fo : /to expected that those* who: are .pie ignorant of it should utterly fail. There exceptions, but, speaking generally, there cannot be" tie smallest doubt that .the people for .whomthe Government" has had to provide employment, if settled on farms, would fail to earn a living: The mere fact that they'are out of work is presumptive evidence that they are less' energetic and oapahie san those find employment ; arid when it takes all the energy of the most capable of? those who 'know the business well to ''thrive at farming, it is. not, to be expected that the least capable of those who do not know the business ; shouldfltt.cceed/' In the above extract the position }$ put fairly- and honestly, and every practical man ; must acknowledge either that the statement is absolutely true/, 'or 'that th.ere is. a yery large

measure of truth in it. If it can be modified at all it will only be by the extent, the.proportion to which exceptional cases can be expected to run. It may be possible in many instances that men who have never done well for themselves to take anew departure as land holders,,antf change into industrious and thrifty colonists. Such changes have not. been unknown in the past, and may again be recorded in the future; but it is too'much to expeot.them to constitute a.yery.-.kige percentage of those who are taking advantage, of the facilities which the Government are offering to the unemployed for settling land. We believe that the outcome of land settlement" schemes of Mr Baiaance will be a large measure of disappointment, and that recourse will have to ibo made to the more old-fashioned ■methods.under which the bulk of the settled land in the Colony has in the past been distributed. The void Provincial Governments with all their faults knew how to put land in the market, and thousands of fairly prosperous.•farmers in New .Zealand have 'established themselves 'on an independent footing, without the somewhat questionable advantages,; which perpetual leaseholds, village settlement, and special settlement associations offer.