Co-Operative Settlements.

Hastings Standard, Issue 164, 5 November 1896, Page 4

Co-Operative Settlements.

The Hon \V. M. Bolt delivered a lengthy and instructive address on the above subject at the Art Gallery, Cbristchurcli. on Monday evening. There was a pood attendance. The lecturer pointed out that the concentration and combination of capital and machinery had left the masses helpless, and if that concentration was continued the evils of want of employment and poverty would be greatly intensified in the future. The object of co-operative settlement was to unite agriculture and manufacture in the hands, and o .• the bt Befit of the -workers, Properly

constituted settlements of thi* kind woeld nor only settle the unemployed qu< stion. but would lead to great and lasting >'-oeisil reform. The lecturer dc.-cribed at length the origin, growth, and history of similar settlements all over the world, and pointed out that competent and industrious workers, at least equal to those employed by private enterprise, would be necessary to ensure success. Where some of these institutions had not proved self-supporting, the deficit had boon more thin made up by the decrease in crime and the more thorough education of the children. New Zealand differed widely in extent of land, climate and other advantages from the overcrowded countries of the Old World, which were trodden down under the iron heel of military despotism, and in which there only existed two classes- —the governors and the governed. ITnder present conditions it was a disgrace to New Zealand that men who had committed no crime should be unemployed in thousands. The State should supply the land, buildings and machinery, and then everyone would be enabled to «irn a living. Mi* Bolt advocated two classes of these settlements, one class to be a temporary home which would provide a small wage fund for those out of work; the other cases should be permanent, and could ultimately be bought- out by "tlie settlers, who would then work the land for their common interest, conduct their own manufactures', and live, not for the greed of making money, but for the good of all. Mr Bolt held that the village settlement scheme was only planting poverty deeper in the soil. The hard work indeed fell to the lot of the settler, but lie had none of the comforts of life. Lack of capital prevented his progress, and spoiled the prospects of his children. Our present village settlement system was a relapse into barbarism, and was even worse than the old English methods of a century back. Mr Bolt went into the fullest details of his scheme, and concluded a lengthy and earnest lecture amid applause.—Lyttelton Times.