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Waikato Times, Volume xxx, Issue 2430, 7 February 1888, Page 2

In our Alexandra news of the 2nd instant, there appears a paragraph referring to the settlement of the lands watered by the Waipa river, which contains a suggestion that is of no little importance to the district. Our correspondent says that between Harapipiand Kaniwhaniwha, for instance, there are tracts of Crown Lands eminently suited for occupation by small farmers: and that if these lands were thrown open for settlement in small farms, that, with the present facilities offered by the Freezing Company for the disposal of the settlers' milk, hundreds of families might be comfortably provided for with prosperous and settled homes. It is further asserted that these lands aro superior to any other in the Waikato District for dairying and wheat growing. At a time whon our population is leaving our shores to seek their fortunes in the other colonies, and when the principal cities aro growing more and more congested with hungry and unemployed crowds seeking some means of earning a livelihood, a special ellort should be made by the (government to induce people to remain in the colonv and oiler them most liberal facilities for creating permanent homes on areas of Crown L-mds, such as those referred to. Where there are portions of the public domains situated so favourably as ! these lands on the Waipa, fertile, well sheltered, with a navigable

river running through the entire district, and enjoying the additional advantages of good roads communicating with the towns where excellent markets can be found for small products, besides being within easy reach of the railway should settlers desire to court direct; the trade of the city. There can be 110 hesitation in saying l that with sirable opportunities oil their side. Village or Small Farm Settlements should be established in the district without loss of time. The colony is losing' numbers of valuable settlers who are deserting its shores ; the cities are over-populated, whilst the rural districts desire population to utilise their waste lands, which, by increased consumption, would improve local trade, as well as create a greater demand for fresh productions. The Government m ustcertainly adopt some measure for infusing new life and brighter liops'S into the people, and the more they devote attention to settling the waste lands and tilling up the agricultural districts as much as possible with hardy people, resolved to succeed on their little farms of five, ten or twenty-tive acres, the better it will be for us and the colony generally. This is what the Waikato needs ; there, are sufficient Crown Lands here for the purpose of perpetual leasing or selection on deferred payments under easy conditions, with or without, assistance or advances from the State. Moreover, the dairy industry, being developed by the Freezing Company, and which is only in its infancy, is capable in its expansion of making settlement profitable to hundreds of hard-working settlers.