SETTLERS' EXODUS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 188, 4 May 1908, Page 7

SETTLERS' EXODUS.

THE CALL TO QUEENSLAND. WHAT SOME LANDOWNERS ARE DOING. Messrs. H. J. W. Lord and Wall, of the Wairarapa, liavo left New Zealand for Queensland to inspect farm property there , j with the idea of making thoir. final homo in Australia. Among others who meditato a similar pilgrimage are Messrs. H. Hosking , and-Vallance., Should Mr. Lord's report be . of a favourable nature, writes our Waira> rapa correspondent, there aro four or five | other Wairirapa landowners, worth possibly £100,000, who intend to shako the dust of New Zealand from their shoes r and miaka •thoir homes in the great continent in Queens- . land. Thcro seems to i bo no. doubt that there will bo , a very pronounced exodus of our ' ' farmers very shortly to Queensland. In nine weeks, thoro has been sold £71,000 of Queensland property to New Zealand landowners. Mr. John Grigg, of. Longbeach, Canterbury, bought up some Darling Downß property months ago, and amongst those who havo made recent purchases are Messrs. F. Cooper, of Mastcrton; Crowley, of Wanganui; \V. J. B. Cameron and A. 'Moore, of Waiapu. Mr. E. J. Wattj of Hawke's Bay, t is leaving shortly for. Queensland on a tour of and it- is understood that Mr. Donnelly, of Hawke's Bay, also intends to buy Queensland land for his grand-nephew. A well-known Wairarapa land agent stated ■that.,ho ,wa?\. receiving a large number -of ; fbr'Darling; Downs property, and . business is being further pushed by thorepresentatives of an ' enterprising Queensland firm, who aro practically canvassing the whdlo of the principal farmers of New Zealand, The question was asked as to the cause of the exodus. The reply was: "Gen- • •• oral dissatisfaction with the land and labour : laws of .the:, Dominion:". : It appears to be extremely regrettable 'that this .country > should bo depleted of its bone and sinew and, wealth at ■ a time .when'every _ penny and every'pair of hands are heeded'in the interests of its own resources. • ; ;' A NORTHERN VIEW. ■ Discussing the question of the emigration ; ; ;j of New Zealand farmers'to Queensland, the Auckland. "Herald " says,,in the course of a leading article Not only aro passages : \ from; London' to Queensland being offered for £4 per head, but New Zealand farmers are v being recruited fo'r Queensland settlement,; : \ and,otherj,-Australianstates"are making special efforts to''induce''immigration','not only'. ' < from Britain,' but from'this Dominion. No ■ impartial person can question tho averaga - superiority of Now Zealand for, settlement ■ purposes, but 33 and 66-year leases aro no greaj; inducement to land settlers, and those who intends to live-in tho country and not 1 - - in tho towns always prefer freehold to any of,.agricultural,tenure. It is the bounden duty of,tho administration to do all : r .that-it possibly can to encourage immigration, now that the labour markets is so absorbent that a carefully!selected iniiiugratirin.V-'-;'/; woild - increase/-nbt I .,diminish,'' the .present ' certainty of employment; 'and' to keep, a . ' watchful eye 'upon the working of its experimental land so that these',' may (jo .'modified bjvthe.'legislature before "any irremediable ■ harm'' results. : /. Unless this is ;dono, - we arb; more likely to . lose -population 'than to gain it, for industry chokes' for lack of labour:as/quickly as it does for lack of . : . capital, and ,the 'Australians ; are :shrewdly itakiiibc the disturbing influenceexerted upon agriculture by the leasehold faction ,to which the Government has'.'made: •• such "unwarrantable surrenders." v