The Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2322, 29 December 1864, Page 4

The Daily Southern Cross.

LUOEO NON UHO. "if I have been extlngnUhtil, yollthoro rl« A tliouiauil boncons from tho ipaik I boro."

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29.

It is not long since wo referred to the subject of the proposed handing over of the General Government immigi'ation scheme to the provincial authorities. We then remarked in a general way that a groat deal of caution would b6 required, and a very considerable amount of 'cd-oporation would be essential to the proper -working out of such a scheme. In recurring again to the same subject wo would make a few remarks upon the main elements of success in such an undertaking, which ennnot be neglected without endangering entirely the success — even the very existence)— of a great work. We arc given to understand that the Government have asked the Superintendent to manage the matter for them, on their supplying land and funds. To the general proposal, it seems to us, as wo already stated, that the Superintendent could reply only in the affirmative. There were too many reasons for his doing this to allow of his refusing the offer when made in a general wny. He did not, by accepting this, debar himself from afterwards insisting, as strongly ns lie rhose, upon tlio conditions of help and means being carried out very thoroughly indeed. This seems to us to be a very important point, and one which cannot be overlooked without great evil flowing from' it. The acceptance of so difficult an office by the Superintendent in the name of the province ■was necessarily a conditional one— conditional, we mean, upon ample means boing afforded to carry it out to a successful issue ; and if it should appear that to grant such is not the intention of the Government of the colony, the Superintendent ought on no acoount to involve himself and this province man undertaking certain to ond in a disastrous failnre. To us there appear to be several elements which cannot be left out of this scheme if it is to succeed, and we shall endeavour to place them shortly before tho public. And first the grand question of all is the question of the scale on which it is to bo done. The Waikato country has been confiscated by the proclamation of the Governor. The district is a large one, and has been taken for several very definite reasons. In the first place, it is confiscated as a punishment for tho past ; in the next, as a guarantee for the future. As the first, it can hardly bo expected that our action will be very readily acquiesced in by Ihe Maoris who are deprived of their land, and therefore we must look for opposition, and, if a good chance should arise, for an attempt to get it back agnin hereafter. As the second, it is only by making use of it, and so preventing the taking or even attempting to take it back again by the natives, that it oan be of the smallest use to us. Tho question, therefore, is : what population would be necessary to make it reasonable to suppose that we had attained theso two ends satisfactorily ? Undoubtedly the Waikato country will one day bear a large population — hundreds of souls to each square mile — as in older countries ; but this is not to be looked for yet, and is not necessary to the development of the objects of Government in taking the land at all. A largo population, however, we must have for many reasons. The only safety is in largo numbers near one another, and it follows hence that each centre of population must be a very strong one or it will not do. Less than five hundred adults within a small radius would, we conceive, be too few to answer our purpose, and to secure our hold upon the country unmolested. If we take this for a basis, wo may safely say that less than from fifteen to twenty thousand persons will prove too small a number for the purpose of effectually taking possession of the confiscated territory. Already we have, let us pay, three thousand of the Waikato military settlers and their families in Waikato, and it is believed that about three thousand more are on their way hither fr6m' the Cape and from Britain. Here we have, say, one-third of tho full number required for the purpose ; and what .wo would impress upon the Executive of this province at the present moment is, that upon the point of the whole number being provided for they must take>their stand, if they allow any 1 shilly-shallying on this poiut-r^ thing we fear but too likely to bo attempted by some members of the General Government now in power — they will ruin the whole scheme, and the province will hold them responsible for doing so. It might be said that the cost of doing this is large ; and no doubt it will prove so. But what of that? Tlio Assembly know it would be large, and voted large sunis to do it with. It did more. It provided that, if it went beyond a certain largo sum, tho -additional expense was to fall upon this provinoe. But wo say more than this. . Wo say that it can be, done so as to repay principal an'd interest in a very short time j and we say, moreover, that half done or a third part done, and it will return neither'principal nor interest soon or late. In the vast inorpase of value given to'tby adjacent lari'ds by "a^ large population settled upon them, the Gorernment'ina'y, rely upon getting a fulljeompensation for thou? outlay. In the rapid forniation of towns and cities, where tneyv may reserve .large blocks' to sell-afc advance*d'rates,Cthey may * safely lo*k for a^rofit: . Irifthe 'ivast/, increase. in .Customs', I reyenu^e which' suoh^&popalftjbipn neeessitatesV

*sqSetKiirg more tlian ,a%rofib' upon -the trflnsacv fionVil^giired. But we 4 w bo'td^thVGci:,] r^ernmenVis ,in difßouftioSj.m^' the.. colony, io Jff^evils. Truo^and the?trufch' l ig; melancholy *pnouglifor any Governments facV Bat Hero is not neeegshVily.nny call fo^dditional outlay^ The proclamation of the lVth December 1 declare^ i forfeit all the lands of rebels north of the large block confiscated and south rof ~ Auckland. Hero lies^rtasure most easily and most appropriately applicable to the purposes of which -we 'havo^ spoken. '• Let .thei Government sell, • some of these no\r. There are lands deserted 'by the late native owners for eighteen f months /past, in the vicinity of Auckland, that would fojch in this province something very like a hundred thousand pounds if put up to public auction. If the General Governm'cnfc doubt this, let them hand over these late native settlements to the province and 'see ! % . We say there is no need of it costing tlie treasury one sixpence more than was provided, and yet we could bring twenty or thirty 'thousand people here. If it is not done it will not be for want of the means, but of the will to do what looks like a benefit t« Auckland. But at all events we warn the Provincial Executive not to touch it in any way unless provision is made — and clearly and distinctly made too — for this necessary development of the scheme.