Soldier-Settlers

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 54, 27 November 1937, Page 3 (Supplement)

Soldier-Settlers

I Toward the end of 1847 four military settlements were founded round Auckland. 'Within fourteen miles of that: town five hundred old soldiers were settled in single cottages on single acres of laud. They had been enrolled in England for seven years’ service in New Zealand, and camo with their wives and families, making the total number of souls introduced as military settlers two thousand. Besides the cotttage and acre, which became his own on the completion of his seven years’ service, each man was then entitled to receive at a fixed nominal price, four acres more. Each officer had a house and forty acres of land, and the right to purchase one hundred acres more. They -were subject to occasional drill, and were held liable to he called out for garrison duty at any time. The plan had been well considered, and proved fairly successful, as nearly all the men stayed to claim their four acres, and many of them attained to something far more pretentious. In the meantime they contributed to the safety of other settlers in the north, and added not a little to the number and strength of the European population.—J.S. (Wellington).