The Daily Telegraph TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3067, 26 April 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1881.

Within the last month or two considerable attention has been directed to that large tract of Crown lands situated to the north of the Wairoa river. These lands, though for the most part within the provincial district of Auckland, are within a few hours' reach of Napier, and this town would be the natural outlet for their produce. In the district of which we speak there may be a public estate of an area roughly estimated at half-a-million of acres. This side of it, and in the County of Wairoa, there is also a considerable tract of Crown land, that only requires to be opened up to make it attractive to buyers. Two years ago we advocated the reservation of all these lands, that their eventual sale might cover the cost of a railway from Napier to Gißborne, via Wairoa, The general elections were about to take place at that time, and everything that we said on the subject was attributed to political motives. It was no use denying the accusation, because no one would have believed us; more especially as the i journal that represented the peculiar interests of Wairoa laughed to scorn the idea of that district being connected with either Napier or Gisborne by railway. To throw as much discredit as possible upon the Hue that we took up, our political opponents went so far as even to fcaert that, the magnificent public

estate of which we spoke was not worth any one's while to settle upon.' Certain representations, however, were made to the Government after tho defeat of the. Grey Ministry,; aod a short report was furnished to headquarters on the general character of.the. Crown lands lying between Napier and Wairoa, W?,iroa and Waikarccsoan?, and Wairoa and Gisborne. Further, a report wr-3 forwarded as to the country—population and physical features — through .which the. proposed railway -would pass. Both of these reports were unfavorable. The Crown land between Napier and Wairoa was in patches; the open country, fern - growing" bn thin soil -above pumice; the bush of no large extent, and of no great value; population, except on the coast, which the railway would not touch, none. The Crown land between Wairoa and Waikaremoana only fit for pastoral purposes in large blocks; vegetation, fern andscrub. The lands lying between Wairoa and Gisborne similar in character, but rather better soil; not much in the hands of the Crown, but the bulk of it under negotiation for purchase. Such was the purport of the report, and upon this no action could be taken. For two years, therefore, these lands have been lying idle. We believe they I have more than once been submitted to public auction, but found no buyers. The natural inference drawn from this failure to obtain purchasers was that the land was not good enough to attract settlement. But in reality this was not the reason. The fact was that the colony was suffering from depression; wool was down in value to almost the cost of its production; money'was tight,' and for : the further discouragement of settlement a land tax had been imposed avowedly with the object, of. bursting up estates. Since then all this has been reversed. Commerce ias improved; colonial products have been and still are realising profitable values; there is more money seeking investment than can find it, and a Ministry is in power that has not as a cardinal feature of its policy a desire to injure the chief industry of the country. As a natural consequence of this altered state of things, there has arisen a demand for land, and that which in times past was neglected is now finding buyers. Asa proof of this, during the last few* weeks extensive blocks of country lying. beWairoa and Waikaremoana have passed into private hands. All this land that was within the provincial district of Auckland has been bought at five shillings an acre ; that which has been sold, and there has been very little, lying within this provincial dislrict, realised one pound per acre. The difference in price is merely due to the difference between the provincial land laws .of! the two old provinces, and which werenot assimilated at the time of abolition or since. There is little or no difference in the value of the glands lying on either side of the imaginary boundary line separating the two districts. And •here it is thatjhe advocates okCentralism ■find themselves on the horns of a dilemma. If it were not deemed detrimental to the interests of the colony to retain the upset price of pastoral land in -tbia province at £1 per acre, then it must have . been detrimental to those interests .to sacrifice adjoining lands, of equal character at 5s per acre. But who will say that {he interests of this part of the colony would, not have .been best studied had that which we advocated two years ago been adopted, namely,, to reserve the.land until its sale could have been.made to. cover the cost of railway communication between it and this port P