Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1891.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 123, 26 May 1891, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1891.

The revelations of the census ;ara such art to oreate a very uneasy fooling with rogard to the future of the colony, whioh is desperately in want of population, and yet finds that it is unable to attract it or even to retain thoHe who had made it their home in its moro palmy days. Of course there was nothing to be surprised at in tho faot that with the gradual tapering off of tho public works, employment should be less easy to obtain, and consequently that some of those iv search of it should depart for other lands, but this is not BUfljp'ienfc Jo, accouirfc for the very extensive ejkodas whioh we ilow have to deplore. This ia attributed by some id the want of facilities for acquiring land! To some extent ib may bo thus accounted for, but we question very much indeed whothor a oohsidm-abW proportion of those who have left oar "scores would know how to sot to work to maku their living even if presented with a section of laud. With others of oourso it would bd different, and it is therefore quite probable that some — even a lurge nurabei"— may have taken their departure because they could not obtain, under conditions that would Batiafy them, the land upon which' they were' deaiious of settling, liberal though our laws on the subject are. The preaei»fc. Government, however, have appartly, made up their minds 'that ox- c tended facilities for acquiring land which, may; be profitably worked will produce the effeot not only of stopping emigration from tho colony, but of promoting immigration, and it ia with this end in view that aoirie of the proposed legislation of. the approaching eeßßion will be, framed. It is more than likely that they will bo able to oarry thoir. 'measures^ and if tho result be such as they antioipato they will be fully entitled to the gratitude of the colony. But it is only right to point out that the Ministry are in somewhat an anomalous , position in this respect;, for white they propose to remove allexisting difficulties from the occupation of the land of the colony, it is to ifc that they — at least if they are in accord with' the Premier — mean to look for a very* largo proportion of the revenue. In thai course of a recent interview between Mr| Ballanoe and a deputation from tho Wellington Single Tax* f Sooi6ty, 'the President of the latter eaid that their programme included the removal of all taxation from imports and the imposition of. it as far as practicable on laud values, to which the Premier replied that ho 'was entirely in sympathy with the views of the deputation as to the land yalueß being the proper object of taxation, but at present very little could be done in thai direction, It ia clear, however, that this is what he is aiming at whenever ho 1 considers that the proper time has arrived. But as he admits that this ia [ not so yet, it may be that the induce* ments to people to take up the lands of the colony will be temporarily sufficient for the object in view, the question of taxing that particular class of property being reserved for a future occasion.

In conaeotion with the occupation of the land as a means of rotaming th^ population and of attraoting othors to tho colony, there is one phase of, tho question yrhich we have not yet Been | touched ajxiu, although it is worthy of at | leask some consideration, while it certainly must give rise to some littlo bdocu. latiou as to one of the possible results <jf the preient maroh of events in their bearing upon the land industry. The establishment of so large a number of freezing works in all parts of.tho country, together with the prides that are being offered for sheep now, and guaranteed for the nexb two or three years, while an excellent tiling for the farnyra and others who possess land fit for pastorfpput'poses, must inevitably tend to tho conversion of a very large portion of tho laud at present devotod to agrioulturo into feeding grounds for sheep. With the priced obtainable it will pay far bettor to brood and fatten sheep than to grow corn. But what will be the effect of tho change from a population point of view P A farm of, say a couplo hundred acroe,tho greater part of which is cropped year after year requires a considerable amount of labour. But what if it be laid down in grass uu'd utilised merely for sheep raising, with perhaps only a small portion, just enough to supply the wants of the farmer aud bis family, ploughed and sown every year? The result must be the employment of a much smaller number of hands. Of course if thqs* who, in consequence of the altered condition of things, are discharged are able to take up laud for themselves, the change mugtbo benenoial I to the colony, since the result will bo ; a much larger amount of production, but it is not every farm labourer, however good a workman he may be under supervision, who is capable of successfully managing even a small property for himsolf, bo that it is quite within the bounds of possibility that the meat freezing industry, which is swiftly attaining suoh gigantic proportions and is the raeauß of introducing so muoh English money into the colony, may be the cause of increasing instead of deoreasing the oxodus, which has become so Borioui, a jnatter foV the country. Wo are not going to asafort that this must bo the result of the greater inducements now offered for sheep raising, but merely 1 mention it aa one of the possible effects. It will bo a more ohoorful view to take, aud wo trust it is the correct one, tb£t occupation of the land will be rendered «© much more profitable, and so muoh less laborious—alter once the ground w oleared and fenced— that it will add to the attractions of a country life and be the means of drawing away from the towns many who dare not face the wearing and toilsome lot of the agriculturist. T&b would indoed be a boon, tho value of which from a national point of view cannot well be overestimated, '