TO AUSTRALIA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 105, 27 January 1908, Page 2

TO AUSTRALIA.

REPORTED; EXODUS; OF: SETTLERS. A PRACTICAL FARMER'S WARNING 1 -'i It; is reported here (writes our special Wairarapa 1 correspondent) on very:.; good authority that several. Manawatu farmers have made'up their mmds-to-quit New-Zea-land for. the lands along the. border line of, Queensland and Now. South Wiilos. Some of those rosidonts (so tho reports stato) havo been ovoir to Australia spying out. the land. Others have already • made their purchases, and - arc " packing :up:^-to. leave .•■tho. Manawata.' iTheir reasons -for leaving tho 'Dominion'/ are,-they Stato,: the -labour conditionsnnd tho high Dtiee, of hind. The. aggregati) capital or. these {intending .. emi-. grants',-is I'estunatdd ,to ho '£20,000. : Our - yi airarapa correspondent ; interviewed, on the question Mr■; ■, Wilfiani, Bonnett,, a Mas- ■ terton 1 fnrmor, :whoi '-returned: from . a thrco" mtinths. tour of •{v ictOria ,> Now ■ South ■Wales,".aiid. Queonsland;' ;j 'where >ho has made a minute ?irispectiori of landed; property. ...-Mr,--Bennett; ;is. a' 5 well-known ■ pr'aistical farmer) jvho' has sseyeral times travelled over much of the Dtiminion, and who knows tho southern half,:of the North Island-as 'if to him.'' .'' T: ' •. ■ .. ("TbcroVis. noV.dbubtj''!said Mr.- Bennett, thatv.thero are grcatchances for good praetioal fanners in New" South .Wales and ' Queenslaiid,: I. excopty.;Victoria, , because I. 'consider! that it has :ev'ehi nowCquite: enoughpopulatiiiii, but there is soiiie fine cheap' land' ;on the borders of j -tho ! other,two States.;(-. Still,: farming lin theso districts'is-not without dilE-: cuJties. | jDrought', is ifan : almost :< perennial trouble ;i and tho land laws may bo described as .atrocious. ■.-. Thoy- 'v Want.- turning h upside down.' .i!Tor >exataple;>':the'Governments iare oponibgVup th'o'countfy'onvthejdfeferred pay-. mentV: system, - and?: .the'.* heaviest ? payment conies -hi.'st, ■ whioh : is wrong. - The Heaviest • payment l should be last. -A ; poor farmer, has 'no ohanco:ifhohas-.to.pay down;2o'pcrccnt. •of the purchase' money.* at' the commencement,. aiiid that ■is - why .'I say ; it is .usfeltss -for Vny 'Now;, Zealand; farmer> to think _of -doing well, in .'Australia unless' he ;starts -tfith . fully £IGOO in.cash." Mr.' Bennett further stated .that- be 'called: upon the; Ne- South" 1 -Wales Lands Department,, in Sydney, and explained ' 'these objections to the Under-Secretary, whe ' a3ked him ~torput;his ideas<on paper.*:, Mr. : Bennett did 50. Why the Rabbit Abounds. 1 Another glaring irregularity, ho rsays, is tho /manner in ; which the Governmentl, dcalf with:the rabbit':buGiness. "The rabbits arc V in New. .Smith :Wale£ in-bomtless' millions,, said '-Mi'." Bennett, and if ■ trapping weri allowed the work of extermination would.givi labour, to thousands of men.; Tho. Govern ment Lands Department does nothing to kil : the (rabbits, "and tlid whole" management;;;! . v.oatod. in rabbit boards which aro engineers in the interests' of farmers,* wh will allow nc -trapping, lc'st;it', should abtor the surplus;labour and raise wages. ". " Except for comparatively,.wealth: " farmers' and miners', " Australia is a vei ' bad country f0 livo in; ■■' I _Baw women laboui jn'g': in the 'fields- with their sleoves rolled-u and'-their; arms sun-browned totho shoulder; They wero : working like men. There mus something' weak ■ about' tho business who is sort of thing happens.'.' / Mr. Bonnett docs not; think that he wi ko up land, iu-Australia.