THE LAND FOR THE PEOPLE. (From the Otago Guardian.)

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 436, 4 March 1875, Page 2

THE LAND FOR THE PEOPLE. (From the Otago Guardian.)

Many a useful lesson may be 1 arned from what Has taken place, anc is now occurring, in the Old Country and in Continental Empire*, if only we ari willing to be tnughtfjf and if there is one subject more than another in whioli we are more especially concerned, auJ on which a lesson would be valuable, it it that of the settlement of the people on the land. If it be true* that 160 men own one-half of the land in England, and that since the introduction of railways it is considered that these estates have increased in value by the sum of 400 millions of money, then there is a significancy in the fuct which cannot be overlooked when we consider our capacity to bear existing burden* with greater ease. But there are other fopts connected with settlement / on the land of rquul, if not of more impressive significanoy. We do not care to enter minutely into the inquiry as to the way in which many of the landed estates in the 0)&d Country have accumulated, (hough that wo :ld be an in> teresting and instructive inquiry, but we restrict our mind to some of the tfftOs of this .concentration. Professor Newman, when addressing diK. Somersetshire labourers on a late occasion, alluded io\som£ important (acts. He directed the attention of bis.lie\rcrs to the state of Prussia uffer the • attle of Jena, when tho peasintry cured little for national liberties, because WRre no * interested in tho soil, and he contrasted thisV^tyln with the Btnte of the sami* kingdom after enlightened statesmen, having learne I wisdom fro'ti experience, fixed Idle peasantry on fie soil by a practically per| etunl tenure ; W'l with this re~u.lt, that when Fr*nce la'ely thiew down (liega-ieol biitle, it was readily lifted by QrriiiHi»v, »mi, in a cboit epa-e ol time, the proud chna'ry of France Ihv jio-rr-jt** m the dust. Men merely paying n quit nut lot their holdings were pre pnred t • defend their i wn, and to submit to thut ttammg Which converts t!io raw recruit into t»ie intelligent, daring, and Hrdi j nt soldier. Nor had the professor far to go to find other facts to su| p^rt hid new. that a resident peasantry, practically immovable from the roil, is a nation's cheapest defence; for, when ao»n trodden Hungary a roue in her untrained might, in 1849, she Ormnpled up the bpsi"armi>g of Austria ; und it was only when Jsu*M4 threw her sword into the scale that the patiiot peaeantiy Vittidn w from the field. Conquerors, however, as well as coi quered, niny read le-s-or.s from | a«i»ing events; anfi, Austria bereelf was not slow to liarn, Jor she not oih allvwVd the HungxiiiiH to retnin their holdings, but wise'y exte dtd the system t(» other provimes *>f her tmpne. And still there was ope looking on, mighty in arms and gre dy of conqmst She longed to lay her hand on the JLtoapiiotu*, and to rule her \ast dominions in Europ3 and Asia from Constantinople . but she bad lnttly loarned that a country's ' esi defen(iers are enfranchised a-ifs, and theieloie, duiing btr Crimean campaign, she gave to her ptople those • rights in the land übicMkare far beyond tho-e «#istii)g in England at the preseDjJßbment :' aud the devoHi^u of h^r soldiery in many a fa^raKight field rudaly tested tbe manhood of tbe allied inVHUers of tbe Crimea. Profe-sor Newman aho pointed lo Norway, where small holdings are uniteisal, and depleted Jhe^lHct thah, in this respect, '-England was at the bottom nf the scale in European nations. " 1- Fort uiiatf lyf or us as a colony, abundant facilities may 'be piven to tbe people to fo in and pobßecs the land ; and we must see to ie, it we desiie succes.s that we do not, for the pake of revenue, multiply large territorial (States in the hand 8 of a few, while we lestrict our people to th,e smallest aiea, and that, too, of a hungry ki^d It was well pointed out by the L'rofessor t! at the ej^>en%ion |pf the fianchit-e, witiumt the safeguard of a stakfejs n |^c wur.try, is » dan- " throws' condition of society 1 , and eamrstlf to' be avoided. _- He congratulated the eountiy .that, in lafe (U^agieer< menlB of Engiajui between landl^ds and labourers, there had been no att^|ipt to take property* 1 from the foimer. What our people at Home thirst for, we have in abundance in New Zealand- In the 3VJ iddie Island we have lon* i ossesbed valuable provim-ial csmtes ; and a Minister of the Ciown has lately told AW'that intbJPNorth Wand there | are ma.iy millions ot acrayjecured eitb%r by lease or by i[ purchase a^ a colonial estffifc t t What then i* to be our po lj la-y ! 81ih.1 we drift pl<j|»nfl3y into a hopeless condition ? I Shall we dispose of the jißffßj) be encl*)Bed by extensive I rintr fences, and hand ifcjwt'gto absentee capitdists. who y lesidingoutof ihecolony^.wait the time when the best of ti c laud is patted with bjt'the State and then step in and gcneiously offer holdings^gr sale at vastly increased prices, > reaping where they have hot sown, anjf benetitting tenfold from the enhanced value of tbeikj^StMfes, solely lesulting from the expenditure of the publibironey ? If there be a natural tendency in small es-taies./TiKe atoms, to coalesce, then let the sma^l owners reap the benefits of aggregation ; for they have c - ployed tbe sweat of their brow in the work of redemption from a state of nature, and have a right to expect that their labour Bhall not te in vain, Providence has placed a Jaige estate in the hands of thep. Op] e of the colony, aud it will be their fault, and theirs mly, ir this estate should be mismanaged, and the tide of immigration now setting in be not only stayed, but cent back to people other lands more worthy of tbe blessing.