LAND SETTLEMENT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXVII, Issue 124, 9 June 1891, Page 2

LAND SETTLEMENT.

The number of settlers whose eyes aye turned towards the North Island just now for land warrants us m assuming that the conditions under which land may be acquired here are not conducive to the best interests of the province of Marlborough. We publish to-day a letter from Mr G. H. Watson bearing on the point. The writer sets forth that not only should the Rai Valley be thrown open, but also the reserves m the Wairau Valley that are suitable. We quite endorse the idea, and trust that Messrs Mills and Buick will keep the question m view. The suggestion thrown out

that Land Boards are really cumbersome means of dealing with Crown Lands, is one that has been mooted before. Practically they are useless. If the amount of dummyism that ha 3 been carried on is any criterion, they are even worse. In any case they are practically the reflex of the Chief Commissioners of Crown Lands, whose advice they as a rule take. We have often thought that it is really putting the out-of-the-way country settler to great inconvenience and unnecessary expense to manage tho Crown land 3 m the way they are. If, as our correspondent suggested, country postmasters were given the requisite information, they could, as a rule, do the busineas more expeditiou3ly, and with less red-tapeism than is at present the case. We have reason to believe that Mr McKenzia will visit Marlborough after the session, and we have hopes that his own common sense and desire to settle the land will lead him to devise some means of getting rid of the present unsatisfactory state of affairs. Even if it is necessary for the Crown to re-acquire some of the land for small settlers it would Le worth while, rather than that those who desire to make homes for themselves should be driven out of the district.