THE CHEVIOT ESTATE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2069, 19 October 1893, Page 8

THE CHEVIOT ESTATE.

Now that the Cheviot estate is actually bought and paid for, the country is face to face with the question how best to make it pay. A parliamentary paper lies before us in which the whole negotiations between vendor and purchaser, as well as all the reports by Government officials on the property, are recorded. The general impression conveyed by the document is, that Government have entered on an adventure which, though it may be justified on grounds of public policy, yet cannot be called a good speculation from any other standpoint. If the object of buying the Cheviot was to make money, then it is a bad bargain, but if the object of buying the Cheviot was to promote settlement of an extensive and. varied character, then the purchase may turn out to have been a very fair one, though even then not perhaps the best possible. Or we might put the question in another way — viz., that the trustees certainly got a very good price for their property, and the Government may not improbably find that they got a very satisfactory article for the price. There are two excellent and carefully prepared reports on the property in the document — the first by Mr J. "VV. A. Marchant, the chief surveyor in Canterbury; and the other by Mr D. M'MiiiLAJsr, valuer to the Commissioner of Taxes, "Wellington. Mr Marchaot: considers the land and improvements to be worth .£300,000 to the Government for the purposes of settlement ; and writing on the general question of subdivision of large estates and close settlement on the lands of the colony, he says : — " It is of such magnitude, capable of such expansion and application, and fraught with such far-reaching effect upon the future of the colony, that it seems to me the Government may well take the responsibility and risk connected with the undertaking and open the country for settlement under 'The Land Act 1892/ " In Mr MMi claw's report careful valuations are given of the separate blocks of land of varying quality, j and after stating that the average value of the whole property is about £3 10s lOd per acre, he continues : — ' "In arriving at these values I carefully estimated the carrying capacity of each block, and considered how much the carrying capacity could be improved and at what cost, and worked it out so that the net returns show 6 per cent, on the total value." Mr M'Millan's values show a total of .£295,998, and the price paid by the Government was over £260,000. Both the Government officers consulted seem to be clearly of opinion that the trustees were valuing at too low a price, and this no doubt is a strong point in the Government's justification of the purchase. In another telegraphic report Mr Maeciiant says : " The estate is admirably suited for cutting up into town, suburban, village homestead, agricultural, and pastoral holdings " ; and again : "We should expend .£20,000 to £30,000 on roads and draining." Out of the whole 83,604 acres it seems that about 21,000 is held by all the authorities to be good arable land, Avhile some 11,000 acres is set down as semi-agricultural, twothirds of which is ploughable. The remainder is all pastoral, nearly 30,000 acres of it being valued at prices from £3 to £3 10s per acre.

It will be seen that the real truth, as we have it now exactly stated, conforms neither to the opinions of the enthusiastic supporters of the Government nor to the accounts given by their determined opponents. The property is a good one, and one fairly fit for the large experiment to be tried, but it is difficult to suppose that it is the best opportunity for such an experiment that could have been found throughout the whole colony. Success or failure will depend entirely on the methods adopted in bringing it into general use. If these methods are expensive and ill-judged, then the Cheviot will be a terrible sink for the public money ; but if on the other hand they are careful and economical, then there is a reasonable hope that the results will be fairly satisfactory to the (State, as well as of general public utility in j)romoting genuine settlement. It is worth noting among other matters that there is a direct loss to the (State of taxation incurred by talcing over the property of no less "than JL'IiOSU, this being the amount of land tax and graduated tax. In his report Mr Citcnruno points out that the graduated tax amounts to 5 per cent, on a capital value of £36,520, and that it may bo said that the graduated tax reduces the value of the estate as a whole by just this t £.')6,020. C'uvioubly enough this sum is very nearly exactly that which appears as

the difference between the price demanded by the trustees and the value put on the property by the valuers. It may be said, therefore, with some degree o£ accuracy that in the case of the Cheviot the Government have been successful in one instance in bursting up a large estate by their land policy, and, for good or evil, they may take credit for this. Mr March ant offers some suggestions in his report which cannot bo too widely circulated and known through-" out the colony with regard to the way in which the Cheviot should be subdivided. Ho proposes a division into 265 holdings, representing the settlement of say 1000 souls on the estate. We are much mistaken if there are not scores and scores of settlers and their sons who will be found hungering and thirsting to get a bit of property on the Cheviot; and have no doubt that if provision is made for all legitimate requirements of roads, which are costly, and drainage, which is essential, the property will be rushed by applicants as soon as it is put on the market. It will be well, however, that intending settlers should understand in advance that the Cheviot is a long way off from those comforts and con^ veniences of life which seem so dear to the more modern settlers, though they were cheerfully disregarded by the pioneers of the colony. Cheviot is a long way from all markets, and the roads will require a considerable expenditure to make them serviceable. The port of shipment is not very accessible, though measured by miles the distance to it is not great. Settlement in North Canterbury is no child's play, to be taken up by inexperienced townsmen as an amusement. Nothing is clearer, from the reports on which we have commented, than that the Cheviot settlers must be real farmers and pastoralists, not expecting ease and comfort for many a long year, but knowing they have to hew out a home for themselves in the wilderness. If, as we believe will haj>pen, the right sort of men come forward in numbers, with modest means at their disposal, to take up the Cheviot lands, then there is a reasonable prospect of the Government's purchase turning out successful, and if not directly, at any rate indirectly, profitable to the State. One further remark we feel called upon to make, in case there is any chance of another surprise being sprung upon us during the recess of a similar character to the Cheviot. It is that, as experience alone can show the advantage or disadvantage of this sort of adventure, it would be as well for the Government to see how one speculation turns out before venturing upon another.