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Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10216, 9 December 1893, Page 4

Whatever difference of opinion there may bo among the members of the new House of Eepresentatives as to licensing, railway management, and a number of minor questions, it is certain that the Liberal Party will be unanimous in demanding the passage of a measure on the lines of the Laud for Settlements Bill of last session. Every member of tho party is practically pledged to tfaa reform supporting the Government means, if it means anything, supporting its land policy—and we have no doubt that when the Bill again reaches the Legislative Council even the Conservative members of that body will see the wisdom of bowing to the popular will. But an amendment in the law will not remove all the obstacles to settlement. When the Government has obtained power to resume each year possession of a certain quantity of land, its next difficulty will he to find the land. There are, it is true, a number of estates in Canterbury which might under judicious subdivision, support a very large agricultural population; but they must first be purchased, and purchased, it must be remembered, at a price representing their full market value. This difficulty, which no honest m an wishes to remove, is more serious than some speculative members of advanced Political Associations seem to think. It would be ridiculous, for instance, to purchase for settlement an estate valued at i 825 or .£3O an acre. No man without capital could enter upon the cultivation of one hundred or two hundred acres of such land with any reasonable prospect of success. It would be just as ridiculous to invest the limited sum placed at the disposal of tho Government in a largo area of poor land. If the settlers are to succeed at all they mast be placed upon fairly good land at a low rental, and within reason*..

able distance of a constant market. The Cheviot estate seems to meet these requirements tolerably well, and we hope that similar properties may from time to time find their way into the hands of the Government. But if the important work of settlement is to be vigorously prosecuted in the South Island, if we are to retain our I young men on this side of Cook Strait, we must find more land than • is likely to be purchased from private owners. Fortunately there is some | prospect of doing so. In about two years the Marlborough runs, | comprising over a million acres, i will revert to the Crown, Of ; this ' I vast area some 200,000 acres are in i the Kaikoura district, and are vjnj tually a part of Canterbury. The I block of land to which we refer is part of the Ashley electorate, and is only about ten miles farther north than the Cheviot estate, which is now actually a part of this provincial district. It is, we are assured by a competent authority, in every way suitable for close settlement, and should carry a large and prosperous population. Here then is a prospect of “land for the people ” which should not be | neglected by the Government. The j Marlborough surveys are notoriously ' backward. The local Land Board has not a single staff surveyor in the field, and yet there is work enough in the district to occupy a small army of professional men during the next two or three yeans. But Canterbury people will never appreciate the value of the State property that lies away in the wilds of Marlborough until they have seen it; , and they will probably never see it until they are provided with a decent coach service between Oulverden and ■Blenheim. This suggests another question. There are splendid coach services between Christchurch and the West Coast, between the West Coast and Nelson, and between i Nelson and Blenheim; but the road that completes the circuit——the road between Blenheim and Culverden—is left to an inter* mittent once a week, service, which means for all practical business j purposes no service at all. It is largely due to this want of easy communication that the business of : the east coast, from Kaikoura to Picton, has drifted to Wellington and away from Christchurch, The loss of trade which should j come to Christchurch is already a I matter of some consequence to the business men of this city, and when the Marlborough runs are subdivided and settled, as they must be two or three years hence, the lose will be a very serious one indeed. A line from Oulverden to Blenheim was, it will .be remembered, one of the sections of the East Coast Railway which formed part of the great public works scheme ‘propounded by Sir Julius Yogel. We have no wish to revive this proposal—such a railway will be out of the question for many years to come—but there is no reason, we think, why the Government should not at once take some steps to estab* lish better communication between the present railway terminus and the thriving centres on the east coast. This country was closely inspected by the Minister for Lands some months ago, and Mr M’Kenziowas thoroughly impressed with its suitability for settlement; but while it remains in* accessible to the ordinary traveller it is not likely to attract much attention from the landless people of Canterbury. It would be well, there* fore, if the Government could manage, by granting a small subsidy, to establish better and more regular communication between Onlverden and Blenheim. It would be a great convenience to the people already settled along the east coast, and would ensure a keen demand for the Crown lands still unsold.