The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1888. The Settlement of the Country.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2999, 10 September 1888, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1888. The Settlement of the Country.

We have been loyal to the policy of economy and retrenchment upon ■ which the colony has now entered, Even when the shoe pinched in Masterton,' when in this-town the income of a well known official, grown grey in the service, was cut down, we did not protest; or when the teachers of our schools wore subjected to the oruel clip, wo .did not complain. We felt that when public men had, in the interests of the colony, undertaken the most disagreeable task of cutting down the salaries of competent and deserving officials, onlookers should [not harass them by protests in favor of individuals. But while thoroughly endorsing the necessary policy of retrenchment which has been adopted, we do not desire the outcome of it to be'an administrative paralysis, more especially in the direction of settling the country. In different parts pf the ■ colony, but more especially in Wairarapa Nortji, the .Government have extensive areas of land ripe for settlement, bijt fow people know much about tho publio estate, which is now availablgfoi' settleraont, 'The floating population about our - towiis, which longs like a caged bird to settle in the country, and which of late has been leaving New Zealand by every steamer, knows nothing of the position and chapter of sections on the market, or the terms jjjjon w h'°h tbey ; are obtainable. There are plenty of industrious men who have no land, but who might' acquire it if they were initiated itfty Gqijio of the bargains which are .offered in i bnt little |:nowii serial, tJjj Govern- i meat (layette. But jioware sections ! offered 1 They are put before the ' public, pot in the coluipn? pf some widely read newspaper, but in the 1 pages of m official publication, which 1 bo living mortal |}ab|tuajty peruses, j Then again, the twins ia wliiclj {(jo , announcements are made are hardly ] adapted to sell a piece of land, Let I us assume that a hundred acres of ' Splep/Jid undulating alluvial land,. 1 watered fry # nerepal stream, lightly ! yitli ty a formed , road, »p4 pontiguo,u's> p vaijlway , Station, is oi)(sirji>bJf) on a title all but' equal to a freehold by an annua) payment often pounds, wouldnot scores 1 aye hundreds of people, jump at such 1 a chance if thay only had it brought j under their notice. Such chances are put in the Gazette, disguised in official : language in something [ftp tjje follow- ] ing termsOn and after the 3Jst \ inst.j tho following sections will be ■ open for selection: 99a Or 30p, section ! IV, XXXI. X.Y.Z Survey District, I '' it is $ [bis lucid and ] admirable manner 'that our jjand i Departments parade tefore jlhe piiUilo i choice allotments. Applicants for ] land are strapglejl with red tape, and •( those' #9 jap j\ot applying are j deemed altogether uninterested, in tho settlement of the. country. It is quite a larger t urea of land coulti jje profitably settled t under the leasehold system, & system £ which is practically the stepping stone ' to a freehold title, if the land avail- ' able for settlementwere brought ! iin/iov. n,„ „f ilia «„u!» ,v ... '

attractive. -.uianrter.'r'rAa•-:■ a' rule when the Gpvornraeut tdoea muke a. feeblo effott,invthis: direotion .'some'thing extremely'foolish is the result. For example /some "time ago, views ef the Hot lake districts ffero lithographed 111 the .Colony ;at'a;considerable expanse and sent home to England for distribution there. • ■ Pictures of the most sterile and barren, portions of New Zealand were absolutely sent to thei British farmer to frighten liini away from _tho Colony.. If in the present Ministry there'is a man .with brains he ought to bo put iu oliarge of the portfolio of Minister for Lands. The present holder of the offioo is respeotablo, but not up to the business of settling the country, the. Land Boards appear to bo of little or no use, and tho Commissioners of Land Boards are officials out of whom retrenchment has taken heart and energy,.