The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1909. TIME BY THE FORELOCK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7731, 26 February 1909, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1909. TIME BY THE FORELOCK.

The Workers' Political Association m Christ church has certainly taken time by tlu' forelock m expressing a hope that the Premier may, m the public interest, make further enquiry, with a view to closer settlement, concerning Canterbury pastoral runs before these are again "re-let for twenty-one years. "1 tun afraid (snyrs Sir Joseph Ward, m acknowledging the suggestion) that there is some misapprehension on the part «i' tile workers, its the great majority of tlie runs which may be offered for closer settlement do not fall m until the year after next—that is, until 1911 when every effort will be made to see that lands at all fitted for closer settlement are subdivided for that purpose. Regarding the lands which are to be auctioned at the tiul of this; month. Full enquiries have been made, and it has Keen clearly shown that none of them are fitted for closer settle-I ment. Any fertile areas within the runs were disposed of years ago by the Provincial Government, and at present, are held by freeholders, and the Government cannot interfere. You may j rest assured that lands fitted at all 1 for closer settlement will not be let for pastoral runs. 1' [Jut, even so, the "Workers' Political Association has taken ?. step that cannot do any harm, and perhaps it may do much good, by directing attention to the genuine and general desire that, at every legal and legitimate opportunity, the Government should do its utmost, not only to promote hut to ensure the beneficial closer settlement of all the pastoral as well as all the agricultural land of the country. No doubt this has been provisionally done from time to time, but it has never yc-t been done m an absolutely unqualified and whole-hearted manner. With regard to this part of the dominion, Mr George Witty stood close up to the truth the other day when he said that " everybody is enquiring for land and a great many are compelled to leave Canterbury and go north to get what they cannot get m Canterbury. The whole system of subdivision as regards runs should be gone over again by Use Lands Department, for most of them could lie cat up to far greater advantage. Of course, there are ' dry ' sheep runs not suitable for breeding purposes, am] these could not be cut up: but any big run that can be cut up to carry (on each section) from 1000 to 4000 sheep is far better than a big area carrying sometimes 30,000 and 40.000 sheep. It should be remembered that New Zealand is, and always should be, a place for small landowners, not for l»ig ones." The principle here insisted on is supported by experience even m the muchsubdivided agricultural districts of England; and a Shropshire landowner, m advocating the multiplication of fifty-acre farms, says that suitable land to create such farms can be obtained from the outlying sections of many of the larger farms. " There are (he says) brilliant exceptions, of course, but my observation, taken from my own estate and from different ports of the country, has proved to me that when a farm exceeds two hundred acres, while the land round about the homestead is often well farmed, the outlying sections are often farmed m an inferior manner. My special point (he continues) is this, that if the outlying slovenly farmed sections were taken off the larger farms and created into fifty-acre farms, not only would it give competent and experienced young men a bettor chance to begin farming on their own account, but the larger farmer, by concentrating his attention, capital, and labour on the lesser area, would make larger profits on the reduced area than he formerly did on the larger area"; and from this he argues that " any scheme which could i be devised to create fifty-acre farms ' without causing injury to the letting value and profits of the larger farms would surely be a considerable gain to the nation." This is the principle which underlies or inspires all the aspirations, arguments and efforts of the advocates of closer settlement m New Zealand, where it applies just as much to pastoral country as it does to agricultural land iii England, or here, or anywhere else m the world. Perhaps it is not yet suffieientlv. recognised amongst us; it is assuredly not vet sufficiently applied m practice; and the Workers' Political Association, Mr Witty, and everybody else does well to insist on it m connection with every occasion that can be turned to account m the interest of beneficial closer settlement on either agricultural or pastoral land.