The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, DEC. 13, 1888.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2563, 13 December 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, DEC. 13, 1888.

Equal and exact justicc to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

The Minister of Lands, Hon. G. F. Richardson, has been waited upon by deputations in Auckland with reference to settling tho unemployed on the land, under the Village Settlement scheme. The views expressed by the honorable gentleman on these occassions have produced much adverse criticism, and have met with thorough disapproval. Mr Richardson is not favourable to a continuation of the system of 'Village Settlements, as being too dependent for their permanent success upon tho expenditure of Government money for road-making in the various localities. In his opinion it is, to use his own words, " useless placing men on land in districts where there is no one to employ them." That objection might be tenable if the employment of the men located at any settlement was th- ; solo factor for its sue-

cess. Men willing to go on tlic waste lands, butliko the unemployed unable for the want of sulHcient moans to make ;i fait start, should be assisted either pecuniarily or with material, seeds and implements, to erect their houses and begin the cultivation of their sections. Industry and perseverance will do the rest and enable them to recoup the advances made. Moreover it does not follow that village settlement must be established in remote and almost inaccessible localities. There are unoccupied tracts of the public estate within reasonable reach of every centre of population in the country, which can be thrown open for settlement by the class referred to, and where there are probabilities of employment being obtained during certain seasons of the year, or at local contract works. The amount of money expended during the year on relief works is absolutely thrown away ; it is entirely unproductive, does not lessen the unemployed trouble, and has a demoralising inlluence on the labouring classes. The same expenditure would be a material help towards furthering the settlement of the country. It could assist a large number of families to procure permanent and substantial homes, surrounded with many comforts and the possibilities of getting on in the world, which they cannot obtain in crowded cities. To establish these settlements would relieve the growing congestion of population in large towns, an evil we wish to escape from in this new country. It would ease the labour market from overabundance in cities, and develop an increase to the ranks of employers in the country, as the settlers themselves prospered. It would immensely add, under a liberal system, to the wealth producing power of the colony and improve the general conditions of the whole people. The Auckland Charitable Aid Board has submitted to Mr Richardson, in view of the spreading dangers of pauperism from the unemployed diilioult.y, proposals of a comprehensive character, which we trust will be accepted by the Government and brought into operation. It is proposed to give power to Charitable Aid Boards to apply the principle of the Village Settlement system to the local unemployed in each district, in order to keep thorn from becoming a burden on the Hoards ; and that the Government should set aside sufficient areas of land for that purpose and make advances to the Boards, the latter acting as agents for the Government. There is little that is original in these suggestions. The principle pertains in the co operative labour settlements in Europe, which are advocated and are being tried in England, and have been written about on several occasions in this journal. We have also before now made similar proposals to the local municipal bodies as an economic measure by which they could utilise their own reserves and endowments at present lying waste and unoccupied. It is sincerely to be hoped that the mind of Mr ltichardson may be expanded by his visit to the Auckland districts, so far as Village Settlement are concerned, and that before ho returns South he will change his views on the question and show a more favourable inclination towards them.