THE NEW SPECIAL SETTLEMENT IN THE BAY OF PLENTY.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume II, Issue 172, 29 April 1874, Page 3

THE NEW SPECIAL SETTLEMENT IN THE BAY OF PLENTY.

The BCHBMB. wB take ths following notice of the coctsmpbted settlement In this district from the Belfast Newt Letter of the 22nd December last A special scheme of emigration to New Zealand is being carried oat by George Vo»ey Stewart, Stq., of Lisbeg House, Ballygawlcy, and we refer to it here knowing that It will be interesting to many in Ulster who know the gentleman who ia to play so prominent a part in the business. Mr Stewart haring intimated that he would organise a party of special settlers for that colony, both the General and Provincial Governments agreed to give 20,000 acres of land for his settlers and himself; and although the maximum grant to one family, under the Auckland Homestead Act, is 200 acres, the Government will extend the grant to 300 acres, while persons of the labouring classes who may accompany the party will have the same facilities and privileges which are given to other ©migrants who have complied with the regulations and have been approved. Mr Stewart's settlement will be In the province of Auckland, and we need scarcely say that we wish him success. Hew Zealand, the remotest, is one of the most attractive of British dependencies. It has the finest climate in the world, and its natural resources could not be surpassed. All it wants is a population. The Maoris are dying out, and the Anglo>Saxon and Anglo-Celt will have the three islands to themselves. The annual exports are valued at £8,000,000, to be divided among a quarter ota million of inhabitants. There is every inducement in the colony for those who do not feel content in Ireland, or for those who cannot get oh well at home; and when our people do leave Ireland we like to see them settling ia some of our magnificent colonies. We may add that Mr Stewart has sailed for Now Zealand, and when he returns we shall bo able to announce all about the" scheme In connection with the settlement to be planted in that lovely I«nd th» kbwcokbbsu A Mr Bradley, writing to a contemporary about immigration from the North of Ireland, and referring more particularly to the provinces of Ulster and Tyrone, says :— ** Those provinces are chiefly occupied by a tenantry bolding tea to thirty acres of land. They and their sons are practically acquainted with all the details of farm husbandry. Ploughing and spade labour is entirely done by themselves j and In .rearing end management of cattle, poultry, &c., they are proficient. Proprietors have found out how much of burthen they can bear, consequently they are well schooled in economy—training that woold recommend them here. The English labourer possesses a fair share of strength for field labour, bat as he has always been dependent on his wages solely, and without any other resources, he wants the experience of the small Ulster farmer, whose saving habits are forced upon him by the responsibilities he lies under. The facilities now offered for immigration to these colonies may attract a number of the class I recommend. Many of them have numerous families, and are glad of an outlet for some of them.

[ABHIDG2D BBOIC THB ** SOBTBBBK CSOB3. Mr Stewart, to whose visit as agent for a large party of intending immigrants to this province we referred a short time ago, appears to hare found a locality at the Bay of Plenty suitable for this purpose. It is matter for public congratulation that this should hare been so. The land, we understand, is excellent. The district, we know, has great natural advantages, and if the settlers are of the sort spoken of we hare not an instant’s fear of their success. Erery fresh settlement will form a stepping stone to the further progress of colonisation, and which is true throughout the province, is especially so respecting lands on our southern boundary. Here one settlement becomes in its effects equivalent to a conquest, although happily a paaceable one. And we believe we may in perfect sincerity welcome the new settlers for Tauranga, when they arrive, as a reinforcement to an army whose warfare requires neither ride nor sword. That they can and will wield the implements of peace, the axe, the spade, and the ploughshare, that they will breed their own docks and herds on their own land, we have no doubt; for not only are the coming immigrants farmers who hare had

experience in these works of agricultural progress, but they bare also the knowledge and practise of well directed labour, which at home paid rent to the land owner, and enabled themselves also to lay by means which, transferred to this colonv, will make them owners of the land they till, and enable them to stock it, and as a practical reality, to sit under their own vine and % tree, themselves the solo recipients of the labour of their hands. Eightj* to a hundred families', which i&e&aa a now settlement of some 609 souls, each family possessing a capital of from £2OO to £soo—these are the people to form new and successful settlements, at once reaping their own substantial advantage and benefiting themselves and their children, while adding to the wealth and vigour of the colony as a whole, Mr Stewart merils the thanks of the colony for the energy which led him to come to New Zealand, and for forming a scheme of settlement on a basis which promises to be the safest aud soundest that Now Zealand has ever seen.