VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7779, 5 February 1891, Page 6

VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS.

THE HON. W. COPLEY'S VISIT.

The systems obtaining in New Zealand for the settlement of the land on deferred payments, r on • perpetual lease, and by means of homesteads, have attracted the notice of the South Australian Government, and as a result we have received a visit from the Hon. W. Copley, M.L.C., Commissioner of Crown Lands for South Australia. Mr Copley was waited upon at Coker's Hotel l&st night by a member of our staff.

The hon. gentleman, who is accompanied by Mr Sowdon, chief of the Begister staff, Adelaide, explained the object of the trip, aud gave his- impressions concerning those settlements which he has already visied. His position as Commissioner for Crown Lands corresponds with that of Minister for Lands in New Zealand. "We have," he said, "what we call a homestead block system in work in South Australia. It has been in vogue for the last four or five years. The blocks do not exceed twenty acres, and the object of the system is to encourage the settlement of working men, who are allowed to take up the laud in one of two ways. Oue way is by lease, at a rental, for twenty-one years, with righo of purcnase, the price being fixed by the Land Board for the district at the time the land is gazetted as open for application. The occupier has the right to purchase at any time after the first six years. Under the second system the land may be taken up on perpetual lease, at a rental fixed by the Laud Board. The same rental is fixed for both kinds of land. # In the perpetual lease agreement there is a condition for the revaluation of the rent every fourteen years. It has been advocated by some people that we should, by making cash advances to some extent, assist the settlers of small blocks of land to enable them to make a start. Knowing that such a system had been tried in New Zealand, it was deemed advisable that I should visit your colony to see for myself some of the settlements and enquire into the working of the system. The result of my investigations will be a guide as to what the South Australian Government may recommend. 1 landed at the Biutt*. and had an interview with the Lands Department at Invercargill, and at Dunedin with the Commissioner o£ Crown Lands. By both I was supplied with full information concerning the working of the system in their respective land districts. I afterwards came on to Timaru, where I wae met by Mr March, who had been requested to meet mc by Mr Baker, Commissioner of Crown Lands in Canterbury. This was on Monday, and on Tuesday and yesterday we visited a number of the settlements in ciouth Canterbury. We inspected that of Beaconsfield, near Timaru, and others in order as we came northwards, Arowhenua, Orari, Dromore. Chertsey, and Rakaia, where we took train and came on to Christchurch, reaching here yesterday. I have seen some typical village settlements in South Can* terbury, and on Friday I go overland to the West Coast, and thence to Wellington, which place 1 shall make the basis of my operations for the Nortn Island, visiting the settlements there, which exist under conditions different from those of the South. I shall also take a run out with Mr Baker to Lincoln College. I am anxious to see it. as we have heard a good deal concerning it. As iar as my impressions of your system go, it seems to mc that where suitable men are on the blocks and they are able to obtain employment during a portion of the year within easy reach, the settlements are very useful, as providing homes for men who would otherwise be residents of the towns. Those are my impressions. I would like to add that I have been treated with the utmost courtesy by all the officials with whom I haye come in contact, and they have rendered mc every assistance in prosecuting m> inquiries.'