CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 30, 2 August 1851, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times.

Sib,—l beg leave to congratulate you upon that prodigious production, your last Saturday's leader. No words that I am capable of committing to paper will enable me to express my admiration of. the " profound argument" with which you have refuted the observations delivered "ex cathedra" by his Excellency the Governor-in-Chief; such lucid argument needs no illustration, yet the concluding paragraph seems to admit of such an indefinite construction, that I hope I may be allowed to quote it, and enquire if the inference is correct. Who are you addressing when you say " To the poor, who are the object of his Excellency's solicitude, we say nothing." Do you suppose the poor never read your paper,, or by the same rule, that two negatives make an affirmative ? was it not really the yoor tbjit your "mind's eye" was addressing, when you say, *' They will soon find for themselves upon what terms they can acquire property in the Canterbury Settlement, and they will take their own experience rather than the Governor's theoretical protection ?" Undoubtedly you have arrived at this fact from consulting the poor, but that is a matter of little consequence how you have come at the knowledge you know, nor does itat present matter much what " will soon be the terms," or what the " Governor's theoretical protection " is. The matter to discuss is derived from experience, viz., "The Association offer unsold to\vnallot- ;- ments here in Lyttelton at an upset price of 12^., any person wishing to put up a particular lot is required to deposit the upset price" Theallotment is put up to auction, a higher bidder than the putter up will be entitled to the purchase on paying a deposit of 20 per cent. Why not, where an allotment is put up, and the upsets price paid, and no other person has made a similar deposit for the same land, allow the putter up to have it, without the Association's agent, (that is, auction agent,) or any other person being capable of raising the price, without an equal deposit; if two or more persons apply for the same allotment, then Itt it be submitted to competition by the auctioneer. By adopting this course, a bad feature in the terms " for acquiring landed " property from the Association will be got over. "Experience" has taught that it is not alone from the Asseciation that property is to be acquired. Now there are town allotments letting at a yearly rental of nearly \OOL, and on leases of the extraordinary length of seven years,X>\\i as a matter of course, the poor don't acquire that property, therefore it does not come within the range of this subject.. But look to the west, the hills of the west! the. hills with " verdure clad," what dunces the surveyors must have been not to have seen what " valuable town allotments" are in the west, " commanding a beautiful prospect of the vessels entering the harbour," besides a sure preventive for the gout, to those who may have to fetch their water in summer, and'their firewood in winter; —and how admirably is the soil adapted for growing bricks ? I am. Sir, your obedient servant, A Pyoß Max

1001. to the Government, he would have paid 1000 Z. to the Associatiou, and with less advantageous terms than in other respects. And not only will this rent prove ruinously heavy upon the whole, but it is to be the same every year, that is to say, as heavy when there are few sheep upon the run, the returns from the statip.A are little or nothing, and the first expenses of ii/oortation have been excessive, as when, being i'l j/ i.y stocked, it may be expected to yield a profit. ' '$i think, Sir, the Society will admit I did not use ' too strong language when I said that the result of such a state of things will be to leave the Canterbury district wholly unoccupied. It is manifest that as long as land for pasturage purposes is to he obtained in the immediate neighbourhood of the dis- -. trict, upon terms so very much more favourable than our own, not one acre of our district will be

occupied, whilst the rest of the island will be rapidly enriched. We are, in fact, completely undersold by the Government, and competition is out of the question. Nor is this all; when the Government land shall have been taken up, it is exceedingly doubtful whether, on such terms as ours, it will be

worth the while of stock-holders to incur the ex>

pense of importing. But at the same time every ship from the Australian colonies brings stockholders into the country. The first question they ask upon landing is, " Upon what terms can we obtain sheep-runs 1" There is therefore no time for delay; we must settle at once what answer shall be given in future to this enquiry. It is for you to

decide to-day whether that answer shall be favourable, or whether a prohibitive system shall be maintained any longer.

I know, indeed, the settlement of tliis question does not finally rest with us ; but it is within our province to recommend the adoption of some provisional and temporary arrangement, to avert the danger of driving ever)' flock of sheep "which lands

in our harbour beyond the boundaries of the block,

The plan proposed to us to-day is as follows:— By the Act of Parliament, the Association are compelled to let land for Pasturage purposes at a rent of.twenty shillings per one hundred acres, but they are not compelled to let any land at all, except to land-purchasers. Land-purchasers may claim iive acres of pasturage for one of freehold. No other

person can claim any at all. It is therefore competent to the Agent to let a number of acres to a stockholder, and to refuse to let the neighbourhood at all, so as to allow room for the yearly increase of the stock: requiring the stock-owner, at the same time, to take a larger quantity of land every year as his flocks increase. Mr. Godley therefore proposes, that if a stockholder will take a thousand acres of land and put one thousand sheep upon it, he will promise not to let any land within the nineteen thousand adjoining acres to any other person for a term of seven years, requiring from the stockholder that he shall take two thousand acres the second year, four thousand the third, seven thousand the

fourth, and ten thousand the fifth, sixth, and seventh. The practical result will be the same as if the stock-

holder had a seven years lease of the twenty thousand acres, paying a gradually increasing rent as the run became gradually profitable ; the highest rent being equivalent to 1 Us. for every hundred acres, —the sum which the Pasturage Committee recommended as that at which the pasturage runs in the Settlement should be let. -,

In some respects these terms will not be so favourable as those of the government. In some respects they will be more favourable. In the first

place we are informed that a good deal of our land is better, and will carry more stock to the acre; secondly, it is much nearer to shipping ports, and to markets; and nearness to a civilised and settled district, does, in. a multiplicity of incidental ways, enhance the value of a run. Again, the whole trouble of assessment is avoided ; and if the stock-owner desires to stock his run, quicker than by natural increase, by importing, we charge him no more for doing so; whereas the government rent would increase. Another advantage is that the stockholder in the Canterbury district can at any time purchase his improved laud upon the payment of 31. an acre, whereas under the government system, although he may get his land at 11. an acre, ,-, yei-as it cannot be sold without beina; first put up to auction, he may have to pay much more for it, and he is at the mercy of any one who may choose to run up the price at the auction. And lastly, I am in very strong- hopes that in a few months we shall receive news from England that the preemptive right over the soil is extended to all lessees of pastoral land in the Canterbury district, in accordance with the recommendations of the pasturage committee.

. Now this is th? system which it is proposed )at we should sanction. But before I sit down, , think I ought to anticipate two objections Much I conceive may be urged against it. The first is, that by advocating the letting of pasture land at a low rate, I give up the principle of fixing a high price upon freehold land. There is, however, a satisfactory reply to this objection, namely, that the objects gained by setting a high value upon freehold land are neither attainable nor desirable in the case of pasturage. The most impor-

tant difference between the two is, that the title you give to freehold land is permanent, to pasturage land but temporary; to pay therefore for what will increase the ultimate value of the freehold is rational, but to pay for improving what is not one's own, would be unreasonable. All the social advantages which are supposed to be gained by a high price of land refer to the land holder. They hardly affect the squatter in any degree whatever. The purchaser of rural land must in a few years to come, be within reach of the church and the school, the road and the bridge, the society of a peopled neighbourhood, the reading room, and the library; all that can knit society together by the cords of crdliz ition, re-acts upon the land he has pxirchased, giving an artificial value to his property. The squatter is beyond the reach of these influences. The community undertakes to provide little for him, and therefore he should pay little. I think this principle admirably laid down in Mr. Felix Wakefield's book upon Colonial Surveying. At p. 30 he says : —

" The grounds on which it has heen deemed advantageous to a colony that a considerable price should be required for freehold; property in waste lands, do not apply to rights of pasturage. The property in rights of pasturage must be only temporary and of uncertain duration; for it is especially necessary that the right of pasturage over any tract shall never he such as to prevent or impede the acquisilion of freehold property within the tract by others than the holders of the right of pasturage. The right of pasturage would be granted subject to determination, upon brief notice, as respects any land in the tract which anybody chooses to select for purchase as freehold property. I conclude, therefore, that the price which the Company may require for rights of pasturage, will not be more than sufficient to cove?- the expense incurred in bestowing this temporary and uncertain property ."

The other objection to which I have alluded is, that by offering such favourable terms to the pastoral settler we are under-rating the agriculturalist, and especially that we are sacrificing the interests of the first body of colonists and diminishing the value of those peculiar privileges which were guaranteed to them by the Association.

Sir, I think that it is of the first importance to the settlement that public faith should be maintained towards those who have purchased land under the Association. And when I know liow extremely reluctant men are to be the first to engage in the adventure of founding a new colony, and how great is the risk of failure which they incur, I do not think the privileges which were secured to them in any respect unreasonable and extravagant. But I am.thoroughly convinced that in "offering" encouragement to stock holders from the neighbouring settlements we are not diminishing, but immeasurably enhancing the value of those privileges, and that if we were to act upon the objection to which I am alluding, we, should be effecting our injury, not protecting our in-J terests. V

The first body of land-purchasers have, however, themselves most wisely consented to. forego their exclusive privilege of pre-emptive right, by recommending that it shall he extended to all pastoral settlers. But for the present, the ouly way in which the proposed temporary arrangement can affect the first body of colonists, will be by increasing the value of their pre-emptive rights, by encouraging stockholders to come to the country, and so increasing their market value by creating a demand for them. There is then nothing in this part of the objection ; nor is there any more reason to fear that the interests of the agriculturist generally would suffer. The Government regulations, at least as favourable as those proposed, are generally approved of at Wellington and at Nelson, where the agricultural interests are predominant.

Nor can I conceive it to be otherwise, or that it can be argued for an instant that the agricultural interest of anew colony can be opposed to the pastoral ; on the contrary, it would seem to me that the main prospect of the land-owner in this settlement depends upon the increase of pastoral settlers. The prospect of a market for your produce is at present remote and uncertain. But fill that vast prairie with the -flocks and herds of the squatter, and your market is immediate and unavoidable. As long as sheep-farming continues to he, as it'is, the most lucrative occupation in a colony, the sheep farmer will never subtract his capital from pastoral, and invest it in agricultural occupations. Not a dray will come from the interior with wool for exportation but will carry back with it some part of the produce of your farms. And not only your rural, but your town lands, must shave in tins prosperity. For the wants of the shepherd and herdsman are not confined to the products of one country alone; his demands call into existence the merchant and the shopkeeper, to supply him with those articles of import which are received in exchange for the wool which he produces. Commercial enterprise is awakened, and towns, and the value of town lands, are the creation of commerce.

But it is needless to theorise upon this topic ; rather, Sir, let us look to examples and to history. Fifteen years ago a few huts stood upon the shores of Port Philip,—fifteen, years—no great portion of a man's life, a moment in the history of a

nation! and now a city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants has replaced the silence of the desert. Nor have the other Australian colonies been] slower in their growth. And what," I ask, is the spell which has thus called new nations into existence, and has conjured np great cities as if by enchantment, amongst the solitudes of nature. This magician's wand is the simple shepherd's crook. It is by the patient and persevering enterprise of the herdsman that these wonders have been achieved. The Australian colonists know this right well, and what can we expect but that we shall meet with their just and unlimited contempt, if when they come amongst us they find one of the noblest countries in the Pacific shut up from pastoral purposes by restrictive prohibitions. It is with a view to the removal of these prohibitions by recommending such an interpretation of the law as shall render them innocuous until the law itself shall be repealed, that I move the adoption of the following resolutions.

1. It is of the highest importance to this settlement to encourage the importation of stock which has already .commenced, and which is certain to proceed extensively, if circumstances be favourable to its reception.

2. That the pasturage regulations recently issued by Government offer runs on far more advantageous terms than those of the Canterbury Association, and will therefore tend to abstract pastoral capital from this settlement to other parts of New Zealand.

3. That in order to meet the difficulties which these circumstances have produced, some steps of a temporary and provisional kind ought to be taken, until a final and satisfactory settlement of the whole question shall have been made, by an alteration in the Act of Parliament, into which the present regulations have been unfortunately incorporated.

4. That the plan proposed by Mr. Godley in his letter to the Council of July 13, being understood to be such as will satisfy the importers of stock, is approved of, though necessarily imperfect, as a provisional arrangement.

5. That in the opinion of this meeting it is of the highest importance that any alteration in the existing Act of Parliament, should provide that the regulation of all pastoral questions should he left in, future to a local authority.

6. That the council be instructed to transmit a copy of these resolutionsby the earliest opportunity, to the Managing Committee of the Canterbury Association.

After some conversation, Mr. Aitken proposed the following aduitioti to tiie lesoluiions:

"" That a period at nine month's"should be allowed for the stocking of runs, md that horses should he provided for in their relative value as a portion of the stock."

The resolutions were then put to the meeting and carried unanimously.

Mr. Bhutan moved, pursuant to notice given, the addition of a 13th clause to the rules, to the following effect, premising that recent experience sufficiently proved, the necessity of such a clause:

"The Society reserves to itself the power of altering or adding to the above rules as circumstances may require, by a vote of any General or Special Meeting, provided that due notice of such proposed alteration be given in accordance with the condition required by Clause 4, and that it be confirmed by a majority ofuotless than two-thirds of the whole number of Registered Members of the Society."

Mr. Wiixook would second the adoption of this clause, as lie hoped it would be the means of preserving them from acting, as they had lately been doing, in direct contradiction to rules made within a very short period, a course which was likely to bring discredit upon the whole of their proceedings. Motion put and carried.

Mr. WiLi-odK gave notice of an intention to move an amendment in the 10th ride, (which he had before adverted to,) to the effect that for the transaction of any business expressive of the wishes of the Land-Purchasers, it should be necessary that a clear majority of the members present should be unconnected by official ties with the Canterbury Association, or its agents. The precise wording of the amendment was agreed to be deferred.

Mr. Pollard gave notice, also in general terms, of his intention to move, (at the next Quarterly General Meeting,) the revision of the suffrage for the election of members of council.

■Mr. Bhutan referred to* the* existing anomaly of parties who had transferred their lauds still voting", while the transferree acquired no right to vote, and said that if the motion was intended to remedy this, he should give it his support.

The voting papers having" been given hi, the

clerk was instructed to advertise at the ear" liest opportunity-the result of the election. The Clerk said.he had received letters from Mr. Dampier and Mr. Phillips, protesting against the election of -more than ten members, and stating that they still considered themselves on the council.

It was moved, " that these letter! do lie upon the. table." The Society then adjourned until the first Thursday ia October.

The following gentlemen have been elected members of the Council of the Society of LandPurchasers. W. G. Brittau, Ghair- J. Longden. man. R. Pollard. J. C. Aitken. J. C. W. Russell. A. C. Barker. H. J. Tancred. C.Bowen. J. Townsend. W. B. Bray. J. S. Wortley. J.E.Fitzgerald. E»wabd Weight, Clerk to the Council. lyttelton, July 29, 1851.