WELLINGTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 41, 18 October 1851, Page 6

WELLINGTON.

The Government Gazette of Sept. 19, contains a Proclamation that from and after the Ist of January, 1852, the following- Postal regulations in lieu of the present ones shall be in operation throughout New Zealand: the colonial rate of postage to be two pence for every letter not exceeding- half an ounce in weight, aud two pence for every additional half ounce. The postage on all letters, &c, despatched from New Zealand to places beyond the seas, to be paid in this colony. Stamps, of such form as may be prescribed" by the Local Government, can be affixed to letters, &c. For Books, Magazines, &c, not exceeding a half pound in weight, Qd. is tobe charged ; not exceeding one pound, Is.; and for every additional pound, or fraction of a pound, Is. Newspapers to pass free as before. The Wellington Spectator animadverts upon the mail of the " Lady Nugent" not having been forwarded by the " Alpha," which left two days after the arrival of the English vessel. There seems to be little doubt that the delay was occasioned by the "Alpha's" mail having been shipped some time before she really sailed. In the name of the public we would beg that the masters of coasting and other vessels will give on all occasions as much grace as they can, for the making up of mails, and when possible, express at the post office their readiness to take an additional mail should their sailing be delayed. The following case was tried before the Resident Magistrate at Wellington on the 16th of September :— _ GRIFFITHS V. PiIWIA OF PoRIKTJA AND OTHER Natives.—This was a dispute about the purchase of the schooner " Salopian." It appeared that Eiwia on the part of self and other natives had agreed to purchase the hull of the " Salopian," witli a boat, some planks, and two coils of rope, for 360/., and on which he had paid 127/. as a deposit. It appeared he was not able to complete the purchase, and the schooner was brought to Wellington and completely rigged at ■ the cost of 140/., making- her worth

500/. To save litigation, it was in the end proposed that Eiwai should have his name registered at the Custom House, as part owner of the vessel, to the amount of his share ; and if she was employed or sold, for him to participate id the losses or profits, iii proportion to the amount he had invested in the purchase of her. I Wellington Building Socikty.—A General Meeting of the Subscribers to this Society was held in the Hall of the Mechanic's Institute on Monday evening, for the purpose of approving the rules, and electing the officers of the society. Mr. Waving Taylor was chosei^chairman ; and Mr. Allen gave'a lucid account of the proceedings of the Provisional Committee sine& the last General Meeting. He said the rules had been very carefully drawn up, and had been submitted to the gentleman who had been appointed Bevising Officer under the Building and Land Societies Ordinance, (Mr. Hart) and he would give his sanction to them after a few slight alterations had been made. Messrs. C Clifford, G. Hunter, W. B. Rhodes, James M'Beth, and W. Dorset, were unanimously elected trustees ; Mr. Waring Taylor, treasurer"; Mr. Allen, manager, and Mr. Hart, Solicitor to the Society. The Provisional Committee were unanimously re-elected the Committee for General Purposes for the first year. It was decided that the Society should commence operations on the first Monday of October; and that the entrance fee of 2s. 6d. per share should not be raised for the first three months, in order to allow as many persons of small means as possible, to become members of the society. It was announced that 165 shares had been already taken, and it was fully expected that double that number would be taken up as soon as they commenced operations.

(From the Wellington Independent Oct. 1.) In commenting, in our last number, upon Mr. E. J. Wakefield's letter to Sir G. Grey, in reply to his Excellency's attacks upon the Canterbury Association and Settlement, we endeavoured to shew that the application of the Committee of Land Purchasers to have the Canterbury block extended, was made solely with a view to the interests of the Canterbury colonists themselves, and that the Committee apparently ignored the claims of all the older colonists, who had invested their capital in stock and sheep farming, upon the faith that no such preposterous terms as those proposed by the Association would ever be imposed upon them. Even admitting the truth of the Committee's assertion, that nearly the greatest portion of the additional two million acres they claimed was only adapted to grazing purposes, yet the very fact of the pasture regulations which prevail in all other parts of New Zealand being so much more advantageous than those of the Association, was of itself fatal to the pretensions of the Canterbury Colonists. If they could have pointed to their past success—if, for instance, the}' could have said, we have sold nearly the amount of land we anticipated, and we have every reason to believe that we shall dispose of the whole 2,500,000 acres within a reasonable time, then they might with some show of justice have applied for an extension, of territory. But so far are they from being able to appeal to their past success, that it appears to us they make this application, because they are now fully convinced of the impracticability of their 31. an acre system. Finding their expectations of selling any considerable amount of land at 31. an acre, already disappointed, they wish to ensure the ultimate success of their settlement, by first absorbing within its limits the utmost possible extent of territory, and then, by the revenue derived from the squatters, supporting their settlement. They look, in fact, not to the proceeds from the sale of land, but to the proceeds from leasing it. In raising, therefore, a discussion upon the question of the price of land in New Zealand, we do so, quite as much with a view to life interests of the Canterbury Settlers, as with a view to protect those of the older Colonists. "With respect then to the 11. an acre system —let theorists say what they choose ; let them supp&'S it by the most specious arguments they can adduce; let them demonstrate as often as they please, on paper, that it is the only sound system of Colonization, yet unless they can satisfy the Colonists themselves, both of the soundness of the principle, and also of the advantages they derive from its being carried out and acted upon, they may re ,'. assured, that they will not be able much longer i;> maintain it. For as soon as ever the Australask n Colonies have obtained a full and complete measuru of Self Government, the 1/. an acre system will vi ■ doubtedly be one of the first questions that will be brought under discussion ; and we suspect that the feeling against it will be so strong and unanimous, that Parliament will be obliged to yield, and to allow the Colonists themselves to fix the minimum upset price of their lands. We speak this more in reference to the opinions of the inhabitants of Australia, than to those eniertaiued by the settlers of

New Zealand, for amongst the latter, the question is only now beginning to excite the attention which has for many years been bestowed upon it in the neighbouring colonies. With the Australians, iA is no longer a subject of debate; in as much as jp'ublic opinion has long since condemned it, as opposing an insuperable barrier to the progress of the Colony. The Australians have seen the working both of the ss. an acre and the 1/. an acre price, and they have unanimously pronounced a verdict in favor of the low price. We, on the other hand have only witnessed the operation of the high price system. All our settlements have been founded upon the principle of a fixed minimum price being maintained for all land ; that minimum being in j^o case less than 11. an acre. When we founded this colony, we accepted the Wakefield theory in all its integrity, without bestowing much examination upon it; and our faith in its soundness has we fear been in proportion to our previous ignorance and inexperience. But ten years have elapsed since most of us adopted this theory ; and during this time many facts have been brought under our notice, calculated to raise doubts as to the soundness of the system we have hitherto aided in carrying out. In our previous articles upon the proposed extension of the Canterbury Block, we alluded to .the fact, that in the settlements founded by the New Zealand Company, the higher the price demanded for the land, the less was the amount sold. And we have recently seen, that while no one here will purchase at 11. an acre, yet that there is no lack of buyers at prices ranging from os. to 10s. an acre ; for nearly the whole of the Compensation Scrip has been bought up, at the price we have just named. At Canterbury again, in spite of all the exertions of the Association, not more than twenty-three thousand acres had been sold up to the last dates from England, and there seemed little prospect of the demand increasing as long as the price was maintained at SI. an acre. It matters not with what features of attractiveness a scheme may be clothed, the intending colonists cannot afford to give a high price for land. The projectors of settlements always appear to forget, that the emigrating class are not capitalists, but that the majority of them leave home with a few hundred pounds in their pockets ; and that it makes all the difference in the world to them, whether they pay ss. or SI. per acre for their land ;in the former case they have funds left, with which to turn their land to good account; in the latter their investment reduces them to ruin at once. Imagine two men, each with a capital of 5001, and each a purchaser of 100 acres, but that one pays 1001. for his land, and the other 300/.. the former will have 400/. and the latter only 200/., with which to cultivate his land. Can there be any question, as to which of these parties is placed in the most favourable position, both to ensure his own success, and the prosperity of the community to which he belongs ? Is it reasonable then to expect, that men will cripple themselves at the very commencement of their career, for any visionary advantages, for any "features of attractiveness," no matter how great, that can possibly be held out to them ? But let us examine the results of the high price system in New South Wales. The chief reason, as stated recently by Colonel Torrens in the Times, for raising the price of laud in New South Wales from ss. to 1/. an acre, was, that the South Australian Commissioners found it impracticable to sell land in South Australia at 12s. an acre, as Ion;* as land was allowed to be sold at ss. in Port Philip and New South Wales. The minimum upset price of all Crown land was consequently raised in all the Australias to 1/. an acre, in the year 1843. With what results the following table will shew. Amount of Land Sales. " 1836 .... 126,458 1837. . . . 120,427 1838. . . . 116,324 1839. . . . 152,962 1840. . . . 816,620 1841. . . . 90,387 :X> 1842. . . . 14 )5 74 1843. . . . 11,297 1844. . . . 7 402 1845. . . . 1 8) 4 5 i !1 184 G. . . . 27,060." Upon these tables the Times makes the following remarks : "Thus it ar pears that of the million of money obtained from the sales of land during these ten years, the amount really obtained at the minimum price of one pound per acre is 63,000/., or one half of what was obtained at 5.i. per acre in 1830. < In 1836 the population of the colony was 77,000 I persons, .in 1546 it had almost trebled, being ] 196,000, and yet the price obtained for land in the latter year is only one-fifth of the proceeds of the i former. The argument of Colonel Torrens (in favour of the high price) recoils, and while it appears mcontestibly that cheap land has brought to the colony 49,000 emigrants, it is equally clear that dear land has only brought it 3,000." But the effect of this increase in the price of land, has not been merely to stop the sale of land, but virtually to hand over the whole colony to the squatters. The Select Committee of the Legislative

Council of New South Wales alluded to this point in their Report, in the following words:—" The Squatters, forced to occupy, and forbidden to buy, forbidden by the policy of the Government to acquire lands by purchase, and allowed to occupy till that impossible event should take place, saw that they had acquired through the impossibility of purchase, all that a purchase could have given them, and that the law which rendered the lands unsaleable, virtually gave them away to their present occupants." " Hence," says the writer in the Times, " arose a party in the colony (the Squatters) not known before, who began to feel they had a vested interest in maintaining the prohibitory price as a guarantee that their occupation would never be disturbed. To occupy land at one fifth of a penny per acre, is surely preferable to payiug three pence, which would be the interest at five per cent, on even five shillings an aeie.'*

Now what has occurred in New South Wales, appears to us still more likely to occur in New Zealand, if a sum of 3/. an acre be demanded. In fact, what did one of the New South Wales colonists declare during his recent visit to Canterbury 1 " Let the Association only lower the terms of its pasturage regulations, and then the higher the price they demand for their land the better. For our tenure, as Squatters, will virtually be as good, as if we had purchased the freehold." This constitutes to our mind the chief objection to the Canterbury Scheme, and to any extension of its territory. Little or no land will be sold, there will be no funds for immigration, or for public works, but the whole country will be parcelled out to the squatters. If on the contrary the price were lowered to 10s. an acre, we believe that a large annual revenue might be derived from the sale of land, by which means a constant stream of immigration would be supplied, and that the agricultural capabilities of the country would be developed equally with its grazing.