The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1868.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 209, 1 April 1868, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1868.

In a district like ours, where the people are naturally of a roving disposition, and are only resident amongst us, -whilst payable gold-fields exist, any attempt to settle a population and lead to the formation of farms and gardens is a most useful work. The agricultural land in our neighborhood is limited, and what there is, is so thickly wooded, that great expense is necessary to clear it, in any way fit for cultivation. The idea of becoming the possessor of a small freehold, has led many a poor man to emigrate from a country where land is held by the wealthy and the few, to one where from the vast unoccupied tracts he may reasonably hope to become the possessor of a few acres at a nominal cost. The desire of the Government not only here, but throughout all the colonies, seems to be to induce settlement under j agricultural leases, and the Provincial

Gazette, of the 16th ult., publishes the regulations in force with regard to such land being taken up. It is not our intention in this article to take the various rules guiding the authorities in granting leases piecemeal, but rather to glance in a general way at the evils, as we consider them, of the new regulations. The principal want in them is the absence of any sure tenure, and their silence with regard to priority of the lessee to purchase. In parts of New Zealand where the land is at once fit for the plough, and little or no work or improvement is necessary to make it fit for cultivation, these evils would be bad enough, but in a wooded country like ours where the most primitive attempt at clearance will cost £4O per acre, it is not only expedient, but imperative that anyone who takes up such country, shall be liable to no interference. Let the Government allow some specified time, during which the land must be worked, but let the tenant know that if his tenure is withdrawn either for road-making, or for gold-mining, that whether his land is under cultivation or not, he may be sure of receiving some recompense for that, which to him in a short time would have been most valuable. The right of purchase also should be clearly defined, and the price fixed at such a reasonable figure that each lease may only be the preparation for making it a freehold, held by the man who has inaugurated the improvement on such land. Ifthe intentions of the Government are to induce settlement, and to make the West Coast a populous and thriving district, the land should be almost free and as in Queensland, the survey and other fees paid by the lessee on his first takiug up the land, should go towards the purchase-money should he ever be inclined to become a freeholder. Unless some such liberal schemes are introduced and passed into law, we are afraid that the great desideratum, settlement, will be retarded, if not totally stopped. The immense difficulties in the way of improving a country so wild and so poor as ours, make the duties of a cultivator neither an easy or a pleasant task, and it is but right that if pioneers of farming of the right sort are found, that every facility should be afforded them, and every inducement held out to them to become tillers of the soil. In a future article we will go into the matter in detail, and will examine each clause separately with a view of pointing out first where the shoe pinches, and next the probable rules and regulations necessary to make any laws relating to land settlement effective.