The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1863.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 42, 23 September 1863, Page 4

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1863.

Ix approaching the settlement of the Lands question we feel that diffidence which should ever be the accompaniment of those who attempt to lay down schemes having for their object the prosperity of countries and populations. Political economists have differed widely in opinion on matters relating to trade and others, but on one question they all seem to be agreed, that is with respect to what are onerous and gratuitous gifts of God. None of them deny that land is one of these. And yet, when it comes to be a question as to the settlement of that land, how inconsistent are the actions of legislators. We will not discuss the matter in its general aspects, but rather as it specially affects the Province of Otago. The most important question we have to solve is. has the state a right to legislate upon utilities ? aud if we admit that it has, then we say that governmental acts must be in harmony with general laws, and they must not throw obstacles in the way of settlement for the benefit of any class, and thus create and retain a false impression, that obstacles are a necessary evil. Land, water, and the air we breathe, have been placed upon the earth for the general benefit of mankind; aud political economists are inconsistent when they, admitting land to be a utility, say that it contains value, without the expenditure of human services. The term value aud utility, as used here, are not to be taken in their ordinary acceptation, but rather as used by John Stuart Mill and others. The Australian legislators have fallen into this inconsistency, and in reference to the disposal of waste lands have been at variance from time to time, and have been unable to agree upon any fundamental principle to harmonise with the general benefit. About thirty years ago a celebrated English statesman laid it down as a rule that no Crown lands should be sold but for ready-money and by public auction, and that proper care should be exercised by the Government to prevent any person obtaining lands for speculative purposes; that a fair distribution should be made; and that bona Jide improvers should alone obtain it from the State; and further, that the proceeds of the sale of waste lands should be so laid out that the purchaser should receive from the State an equivalent in works of public value. This system approaches very nearly to that adopted by

| the earlier settlers, and continued to this day in America. It has also been adopted in | Australia, so far as regards the disposal of goldlields' townships, of water-rights, and the ; right of mining for gold and other metals. 1 Township allotments on the goldfields of ; Victoria are only held on condition of bona Jide occupation, for a fixed rental per annum ; and so soon as the occupants have had suffi- ! cient time for the purpose of improvement, the | whole of the allotments are sold by public auction (at an agreed-upon upset price) with ! full valuation allowed for any improve- | ment effected by the individual occupants, j This system is in keeping with the , law laid down by Lord Ripon for i the sale of waste lands. And we cannot see why it was not applied by the I Victorian legislators to other than the lands !of township allotments. It enables an improver to secure his own tenure, or he is paid a fair price for every day's labor bestowed upon it, and it is an effectual check to speculators monopolising large tracts of country. It has been attempted to establish that the system is virtually a legislation against capital, and that the poor man is in reality the sufferer, because his prosperity depends upon j the circulation of capital. This argument is 1 44 a shallow pitcher which holds no water." 1 The system encourages improvement, and accumulation of values are bona-fide wealth. The Government are the guardians of utilities, I and are justified in preventing their mono- ' poly by an individual or combination of indi- ! viduals, whether these utilities be water, air, land or others. The system has been introduced beneficially in individual mining, and co-operative mining, and mining leases. Any ; man can occupy, by paying a certain rent per annum, a limited portion of auriferous land for the purpose of mining, but so soon as he ceases to work it he forfeits his claim to it, and the right of another comes in for the purpose of developing its wealth. No one objects to mining under these restrictions, and no one can logically gainsay the justice to all parties. The squatter leases large tracts of land under conditions and restrictions to keep them occupied with a specified number of sheep or cattle per acre, and he forfeits his right to the run if he fails or neglects the performance of this bargain. A similar principle has been introduced into " Industrial Leases," which has proved to be the only portion of the late 1 Land Act of Victoria at all successful.

Keeping constantly in view, therefore, where the Victorians have failed, and where they have succeeded, it behoves members of Council to watch jealously the actings of that section of the House, which have an intention of alienating the lands in perpetuity in the manner recently attempted.' The cry of capital being driven out of the country must not be allowed to become a successful bugbear used by designing men, for the purpose of establishing a monopoly of the best portions of the rich lands of the Province Better that the State should continue to hold the lands in trust for the people, than that they should be left to the tender mercies of a lot of land sharks. Land of itself is not a thing of value. Like all gratuitous gifts of nature, its value depends merely upon the amount of labor bestowed upon it. The Government acts the part cf trustee, holding the lands for the benefit of the people, and for their occupation when the proper time comes for the settlement of the community. The price of land, in a new country, should not be regulated by the demand. Nor, should a higher price be asked than is required for the construction of public works, such as roads, &c., to open up the country or district in which concessions of waste lands have been made. The amount of value which the Government may have already placed upon the land should guide them as to its proper upset price. And although we affirm, that the value bestowed at the present time on lands in the interior of Otago does not reach one shilling per acre, yet our prospective requirements would be at about the rate of one pound sterling per aere. And this sum, we consider a fair and equitable price for the lands of Otago at the present time. We also consider that selling for such a sum would be acting in good faith towards prior purchasers who have or have not made the lands valuable by human services. We also affirm that a sale of the rich lands of the colony, for the purpose of raising a revenue for one year, would be disposing of them to persons who would not as purchasers apply them to industrial purposes; and it would be the inauguration of an unwise policy, which would tend to destroy the colony for the purpose for which it was intended, viz.—the settlement of a producing population. The manner in which the lands are to be alienated so as to produce the greatest amount of good, is the great question of the day in Otago. Political agitation and contention, both here and in Australia, are as warm as ever, and the settlement of the question still far off. We have seen many schemes put forward by the Victorian legislature as com-

plete, and always ending in the benefit of that incubus, the land speculator, who has been properly designated " the curse of a country of which the settlement is in progress." In America and Victoria there is an abundance of land yet to be cleared and brought under cultivation. And if the people of Victoria had, like those in America, been allowed to settle, kt the specu- " lator would have enjoyed no privileges, no " monopoly, no exceptional advantage, whe- " ther he sold, let, or cultivated; and above "all, the gratuitous gifts of nature would " have no taxes levied upon it." The Province of Otago differs materially from that of Victoria so far as regards the quantity of agricultural land. In Otago the rich portions are comparatively mere patches, and they are few enough to be worth conserving and parcelling out to the bona-fide cultivator. To compel an individual to cultivate alienated lands under a penal clause is in reality class legislation, and we have seen that the compulsory improvement clause upon uncultivated lands in Otago has proved abortive. The inevitable conclusion to be deduced from what we have above set forth is, that bona-fide cultivators or improvers shall be allowed to occupy a certain quantity of agricultural land at a certain moderate rate of yearly rent for a period lengthened enough to enable them to improve. We consider that the sum of 2s. 6d. per acre is a fair sum to be paid as rent, and that a period of five years should be allowed for these improvements. At the end of this period the lands should be submitted to public auction at an

equitable upset price. The upset price must be regulated by the enhanced value of the lands by the formation of roads, bridges, &c., and in any case need never be more than one pound sterling. If the land is bought by other than the improver, he should be allowed full compensation for all his improvements. By these means, even if the speculator were to come and lease with the genuine settler, it would not suit his purpose to pay the rent yearly without any return ; nor would it suit him to pay the large sum necessary for the purchase of uncultivated lands in the midst of improved ones. The agricultural would thus be placed in the same position as township buyers, and a barrier placed to the evil effects which always result from land speculation in a new country. We can say without fear of contradiction that whatever course the Government inay adopt, we on the goldfields will gladly occupy all the available lund in our neighborhood on the terms above indicated.