A Village Settlement Scheme.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3869, 25 July 1891, Page 2

A Village Settlement Scheme.

Mr Luya, M.L.A., of the firm of M'Ghie, Luyaa, and Co., Brisbane, has started a scheme which promises to be a great success. The new settlement is located about ninety miles north of Brisbane. The land set apart for the experiment is rich scrub land, with a large creek running through it, situated on the shores of tha Gootharaba Lake, and about a mile and a half from the sea. The conditions under which the land is taken op are as follows : —The firm agree to let the land in forty acre blocks for a period of seven years on a clearing lease, with the right to purchase at any time daring the currency of the lease, provided the and is cleared and cultivated. The farmer is provided with rations, suoh as tea, flour, and sugar, with tools and implements, and five cows. The farmers agree to settle on the land, clear and cultivate it to the satisfaction of the company, and to pay out of their first or second crops for the stores and implements with whioh they have been supplied, with 8 per cent interest added, together with Is per acre per annum rent, the maximum price of the land to be fixed at 1/5 per acre. The oooupier also agrees to take care of the cattle. The tenants are provided with house room until they build houses of their own, and the firm have offered a prize of £2O to the man who first gets ten acres of land properly cleared and cultivated. Before the agreement is entered into Mr Luya insists that the men shall go up and see the land, and he gives them a passage in his steamer free of charge. If they agree to the conditions, their families also receive free passages. Although the scheme was only started in March last, there are fourteen families on the settlement, and two other families are going up in the course of a few days, When the farmers raise their produce, it is the intention of the firm to bring it down to Brisbane and sell it on their wharf. The freight will be about 10s a ton. Already the scheme has attracted a good deal of attention, and several gentlemen have stated their intention of following the example set by Mr Luya.—'Queens tender.'