Wairarapa Daily Times. Established 1874. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1895. ADVANCES TO SETTLERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4962, 27 February 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. Established 1874. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1895. ADVANCES TO SETTLERS.

Aiivaxchh to Settlers sceuilo bo hanging lire. There is a less number of applications than we anticipated,but tlii.s may be accounted for by the consideration that borrowers' lind that they have to wait months for money from the Government, when their necessities require relieving in as many weeks, consequently they are compelled to resort to the open market for their requirements. In this district some settlers put in applications as far buck as November, ami do not yet know their fate. Hope deferred makes the heart of tho borrower sick, and the new Act is less popular than it was at first. Of course in introducing new machinery a certain amount of delay is not to be wondered at, but the Ereuiinj l'od went so far as to suggest tliat the agony is being prolonged because the Government have not got their money available at present. Possibly the delay may bo accounted for without this hypothesis. We believe that the staff of the Public Trusted is being used for the adminis-J tration of the new Act, and] this is attended with a double evil. First of all, sufficient clerks cannot be spared from the Public Trust Office, to despatch tho workpromptly, and secondly, the Public Trust Office is depleted of its proper strength, and its work is said to be getting into arrears. The Government are endeavoring to work the Advances to Settlers Act economically, and in doing so, arc compelled to sacrifice efficiency and promptitude. The new machine, in fact, does not work. In the country, expert valuators lind, that Ibo fee allowed for valuation is insufficient, and decline to act. Of course substitutes of a sort are available, something on the linos of the colored preacher in America. "You get poor pay," said a passing stranger, when he learnt that the statutory allowance was half a dollar a sormon. " Yes," replied the preacher " but mo give them poor proachee." There is a good deal of " poor preaehee" about the administration of the Advances to Settlers Act and though officered by an able man like the Public Trustee it is difficult to I imagine how oyon he can make bricks without straw, or conduct a I business requiring the best expert skill with an inexpert stall'. Unquestionably thenew Act hasbrought down the rate of • interest, but whether this is a permanent change or a temporary om it is hard to say. Can the Government control the opou market ? At any time the : market may revive especially.

Tub absurdity of the Factories Act lias recently been illustrated in this town A mechanic was called upon to register his promises as n factory, because lie permitted bis son to assist him in bis employment, He refused to register, saying that be did not require the services of his son, and was teaching him his trade for the boy's own benefit. The Government, he declared, could take the boy oft his hands and provide for him. In fact, the mechanic in question openly refuses to comply with the Act! Will he bo prosecuted for a breach of it ? Wo think not, because some of the provisions of the measure are so ridiculous that even the Department itself is ashamed of them, and hesitates to enforce them against a working man.