The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1889. Settling Waste Lands.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3168, 1 April 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1889. Settling Waste Lands.

At the laßt meeting of the Wellington 1 Waste Lauds Board thero was a ' somewhat animated discussion between Mr H. Bimny and Mr Mar- ] chant as to the better method of ( disposing of Waste Lane's. Mr i Bunny, with Ins characteristic com- t moil sense, urged the advisability of selling land by auction but Mr ( Marchant contended that this system ; would enable outside capitalists to i outbid the poor man. It happens 1 that t-UP poor men in tho bußh are the last pooplo in tho world to object ] to the importation of capital into , their neighborhood, and Mr Marohaut i by his mistaken notion of benefitting i tho poor man really starves him. I To give an illustration we might cite an instance of a young man who ! went up to tho Forty-Mile Bush with , two thousand pounds in his pocket . whiph ho desired to expend in the ! purchase and improvement of a cer- ' tail) area of Waste Land.' But, when bo went to the Land Office it 1 was explained that bloated capitalists of his'calibre could not be allowed to pick land in the bush wilderness, Now, bad tbis young man boon allowed to take up his land what a. splendid thing the investment of two thousand pounds pa§(i would have , been for tho colony and for tho bueh district, Tho genuine bush settlers be" and pray for capitalists to come amongst thein. They hive no silly sentiment of tho kind expressed by Mr Marpbant, We believe the I Commissioner of Crown Lands to bo a most able departmental officer and an accomplished surveyor, but'it would be too much to expect him to work out a- land settlement scheme from an office in the big building. '■lf he were to live for six months out of the twelve At Pphjatuahe would find out some things which lip scarcely yet understands. He would , perhaps discover that though he has a splendid settlement on paper, it goes but little further ■ than this, The j fact is under tho Marchant system, tho middleman makes a very good f thing out of the Land Board, Why, even members of the Waste Land Board have been openly engaged 1 in business as land commission agents, 09W Mr Marchant can reconcile a siat,? nf things like tills with his conscience p fail rto we. The commercial pi'in.ciple on which the Manawatu Railway Company difpoeog of its estate is undoubtedly the best m the interests of both purchasers and vendors. Mr Marchant we believe contends that'he has settled more Und j tto-tlri Mtatartta B&flwty Our*

pany, but it would bo almost, a disgrace to him if he has not settled fivo times as much, having not only a larger area at Mb disposal than the Manawatu Company, but also land of a better quality. We hope Mr Bunny at the next meeting of the Board will succeed in knocking a little common sense into his. colleagues. There are millions of acres of magnificent country in the groat bush district, aud it is a pity that under the present short-sighted administration a man cannot get a section which suits him without paying a heavy premium for it through a middleman,