Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1805. PROFITABLE OCCUPATIONS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5133, 23 September 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1805. PROFITABLE OCCUPATIONS.

Parmamext is endeavouring to pneourage profitable occupations by the new tariff, as if New Zealand were lit for nothing better thap miserable factories and semi-starva-tion industries, _ Tho strong point of this Colony is that it possesses millions of acres of virgin soil, and in n hundred of its districts, unimpioved mid partly improved land in an almostunlimited quantity. Land is wanting labour throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, and this is really the profitable occupation which ought to engage the energies of our surplus population,' Only very small ureas bf land nvo highly improved, the vast bulk of the country is still unproductive from want of labour. The legislature ant} 'the Government appears to think moro of teaching young people limy fn mnko mi matches than encouraging them to dig, plough, and drain, to milk, churn and press. All unwholesome occupations are at a premium and healthy ones at a discount! In tho large' (minis' pf flie' Mother Country aro to bo found yaobs of town dwarfs, the product of manufacturing industries, and there are some foolish people who would like to breed the same class of people iii New Zealand. If young people want to grow up as manufacturers' labourers, it would be better to ship them off to tho Old Country, where tliere is a better oponing for industries, Here, the one occupation to encourage is workingpn land. and this 0110 prolitablo occupation Is killed 1 by the present Government. In the ' first place Ministers tax land till iliey frighten the owners off it, or'! force them to surrender it; in otherl] y ords they kill employers of labour. ■ | In this district where ten men were 11 (voi'it fi) bp employed' on a station,'! there arg ppw abppt thro?, and this 1 is the direct outcome pf bad goyerp- 1 mont, Then, again, the Government j sell land at about three tiroes its fair va!! 10 ' ftncl 'tadloap 5 sottloment in'PVVVQUient. Push i land is not worth, on an average I

more than ten shillings an acre, and it is in our opinion ruinous to settlement when the currant high prices are charged, With a sensible and honest land policy, New Zealand would soon recover from the existing depression. The land is capable of yielding ten times the produce it now returns, all that is wanted is labour to bring about this result. Our market is the i world, and it is not one that is likely to be over-stocked. The tariff is undoubtedly necessary for revenuo purposes, but wo object to it as an instrument to stimulate new and I poorly paid industries, which are not wanted at all in this Colony.