COUNTRY SETTLEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 7362, 7 November 1887, Page 1

COUNTRY SETTLEMENT

The remedy for the depression in this Colony,. and the path to progress, lie not inthe direction of encouraging manufacturing 1 industries at the expense of the community/ and endeavoring to create wealth by iro- ' poverishing the people, but in extending the area and reducing the cost of agricultural . production. The population is not a tenth of what it should be, and of this far top large a proportion is congested in the towns, . with the result that there is a plethora of certain classes of labor; The mischief lies ' far deeper than is generally supposed. It is not that the men who swell the ranks of the unemployed, or who live from hand to mouth on precarious wages, are unfit for .. rural life as being ignorant of farming and without any capital to start with, but that economy is little understood and seldom . practised. It is this which renders, so many attempts to settle on the landfutile, and, naturally enough, the failures l deter others from trying the experiment. With produce at the present prices, which ■ cannot reasonably _be expected materially to - improve, agriculture will not pay unless a new departure altogether is taken. Knowledge sufficient to cultivate a few acreß of land is soon picked up by an intelligent man; if thrifty and industrious he requires very little money to start with; but it is indispensable that he should make, his holding entirely self-supporting for himself and his family. The Government, it is satisfactory to learn from the Financial Statement, t.z .- pose, to amend and simplify the land law/, allowing selectors full freedom as to choice of tenure. They lightly maintain that the settlement and occupation of the lands of - the Colony would be effectively promoted."hy " renderingthemattractive to persons willing "and able to cultivate them, and to develop;-"i " their many and varied r< iorces with their' "own skill and capital." It is farther ■ recognised that efforts at retrenchment will'; be comparatively unavailing to restore pros- '. [ perity, unless a considerable accession to the .

population of persons in a position to employ labor are introduced, ana Ministers hope,. the Premier says, to see at no distant period such an accession. Very much, indeed, is this to be desired ; but a good deal more in a practical way we are inclined to believe may be done by taking measures to help the h j: working people now in the Colony toward* realising an independent country life; giving them a good start, and showing them how to make practical use of the opportunity. The making of a living off the land is , a local industry which cannot receive "too much encouragement, but independence and self-reliance are the first principles which must be inculcated on the settlers. : '

A very interesting little pamphlet, somewhat unfortunate, in its title, "Agricola v. Mercator," has recently been issued, and in it Mr F. G_Mobgan deals comprehensively- ■ with the question of agricultural settlement; indicating especially how this may be advanced, and should be made materially advantageous to the State, as well as remunerative in the best possible mannei- to the, individual settler. The author refers to " suggestions made some three years ago ufa paper read before the New Zealand Institute, the object being to induce the youth of the towns to settle on the country lands' and, 7 become producers instead of consumers.' - One of the suggestions was that joint-stock associations should he formed of twenty ;. young men, mustering about £l5O each, who shall take up, say, 6,000 acres of good land, in an acceptable situation; paying a certain sum down and giving a mortgage for the balance. It was claimed that such an association would be an agricultural school of' the best type; that twenty educated young men, living and working together for four or ~;; five years whilst clearing off the mortgage, fencing, draining, cultivating the lands, and feeding sheep, consulting agricultural authorities and their neighbors, would certainly, by the time their land was clear, and they could divide and draw lots iqr their iarms/. "~ have a good practical knowledge of the business ; that they would practically be provided for for life, be enlisted on the side of property, and be very valuable settlers'.; that many mechanics would also gladly, exchange their precarious employment for 'a certain independency by selling their suburban properties and joining such associations. Two objections of considerable ' weight, Mr Mobgan says, were urged against ~T this scheme—namely, that the money would ; not be forthcoming in many instances, and ' that farming does not pay. He thinks the ' first not insuperable in the case of young men really in earnest in the desire tocarve out an independent position for themselves. It is, however, with " the second objection, and what he has. to say about it, that - we have at present to do. No one, Mr Mobgan asserts, having any knowledge of - the subject can deny that farming, as/ carried on at present in the colonies, is nota remunerative occupation ; but it is quite possible, he adds, to farm in such a fashion as to pay fairly well, and, at the same time, to lead the safest and most agreeable of.all possible lives, secure from all the vicissitudes of a commercial community. "To " attain this object, the farmer of the " future's chief object must be to be inde- " pendent of money to the utmost extent (i

possible—never to buy anything when , any sort of _ substitute can be produced on. the farm. His, motto must?be -that nothing-is cheap, however low the price 'may be, that has to bepurchased with p ' money." This is the keynote to the argu- » ment of the pamphlet. The business of the _ ' farmer must not be confined, says thfr" author, to the production of food and thef.' raw material of clothing, but must in- "\ r dude the borne manufacture of the,' latter —at least to the extent .--p| ; ." thoroughly clothing himself, and his;.family. TJie question of the utility of homtf, manufactures he demonstrates by a quota-, tion from Samuel Laing in his valuable work on Norway:—" At the farm-houses in ' " Norway shoes and clothing are made at - "home." The shoemaker and tailor go " round, cobble and sew for a few week*at f "each farm, getting their maintenance, and. | "beingpaid frequently in meal, potatoes, " butter, or other produce. There are looms : .1 "atwork in every house in the country; "carding, spinning, and weaving are conU " - - -

stent occupations of the mistress «ndi' ' female servants. Woollen cloth, substao- ;>- "tial but coarse, excellent bed and labje }*' "linen, and checked or striped cotton or . "linen for female apparel seem the ordinary '" "fabrics in progress." These extracts, Mr Morgan observes, go a long way to explain why.farnaing in New_Zealand does not pay*— When all this work is done on the farm, .it :

is clear that the cost of living is reduced to almost nothing, and that the produce which is sold will be clear profit. It is not to be supposed, he continues, that if women and* • girls again took up these home arts, " they " could compete with town manufactures, "but in clothing themselves and their they would'be of incalculable " assistance, and feeing themselves to be of : " use, they would be thoroughly happy and " contented with a country life." What a different position, he truly says, New Zea-> ... land would be in if thousands of such self-

supporting families were scattered ovf r the; • - length ana breadth of the land, thoroughly - independent of commercial crises, and get- :j ting a little richer every year. r MrKfoßGANdiscusses the question howthe knowledge of home manufactures, and of ?# farming, may be generally diffused amohg f : the youth of the Colony. As to the " ''', first, a very few thousand pounds, '%»*"'.: t l asserts, would import all the various "'i' machines used in different countries, with -,-* persons skilled in their use; an exami-, .-„} nation of these in operation would Boon ' r lead to the selection of the most'use- )'t ful. A central school should, he thinks, 7 be " established, and as soon as the pupils wewi .-' fT sufficiently instructed, they might be dis-* -™° tributed among the Government" - schools, " a Ji and every female M learn the "The object 18*"% "_nbt loJarivfi ouOmporfed ''or to' prevent theic' eetabUshWent^ih*-§ "towns, but to create a strong andecono-

" ntfcal self-supporting poralatioß." there is much that is valuable m the sug-', gestions iu this^amphlet x Nfrejlo not by any ~ , means agreeTwith att thelrieara tty the writer. • *•".*W*h ■* ! B 0 .:. *>;* . Tw ■>■