AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1865.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 534, 29 July 1865, Page 4

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1865.

Thic (piestion of enlisting men from her Majesty's forces in New Zealand to serve as a colonial force will, we presume, be brought on for discussion during the present session of the General Assembly. It is an important one, whether as ali'ecting the colony m general, or this province in particular. The iioine G-ovcrnmeut will allow such enlist- ; liient, thoutrh no precise details have as yet j been published as to the terms and con- : ditions on which this force would be raised, '

in respect to its being a permanent or merely a temporary force. Tlio Weld Ministry have Di,l; yet spoken clearly tin this poi 111, I.' ut it would seem that ilicv really look upou it as a permanent one. For if wo are to have no Lritish troops, it is quite clear we must have a colonial force doing all the Jul ies of troops, no inn tier who! her we call them soldiers 01* constables. 11, then, this is to be a permanent colonial army, we might ask whether it is at all likely tnat men who have for years been engaged in New Zealand warfare will show so great a liking for the work that they will join MY. Weld's constables? We uo not think fhe\ "will, and lor this vcrv reason, that the Province of Auckland is able to oiler tar greater advantages to the soldiers than can ihe General Government. Of course things might be so managed that the reverse ofthis would be the case. For instance, if instead ot offering the brave fellows who have nobly fought our battles and bravely endured great privations and hardships on our behalf, every encouragement to settle among us, we repealed our present waste land regulation,s and told them that we would not give them the forty acres of waste land which our statute book at present provides lor them, on leaving th'e army for Ihe parpose of settling in this Province, we could in that case well imagine that thev would perhaps prefer to trust to' the AVeld Go\ eminent, and enlist m its service, iat her than settle down at once in this province. Any proposal to do this we look upon as something not only very foolish but as very like proposing a breach of faith quite equalto that of the YVeld Government to the immigrants, and which caused us all fo wax very wroth some time ago. Shall the Provincial Government rush into hr.sty legislation of an exceptional character to punish those soldiers who rel.ire from the military service to settle in this province, because they enlist into this new colonial force, and spend some years, perhaps, in maintaining peace within our borders. It is acknowledged that the men richly deserve some recompense for their work, is forty acres of waste land any great reward for a brave old hi !vity-fifth ' veteran, who looks upou New Zeahmd as his home, is inured to its climate, has done good service through many years to flie Colony, and retires from the armv to settle in this Province. No ; but yet at"the same time it is gravely proposed, and by an Auckland journal too—the CVo.w—not to give it fliem, but to hastily change our laws to prevent fliem from claiming it. On broad and general grounds wc most strenuously oppose any such mean procedure. and shall ever battle with our pen tor the soldiers who have battled with the Enfield rilie and the bayonet for us. No matter what lino of life a man may choose to adopt wiio retires from the army'to settle in tins province, let him by all means have his lortv acres of land. Why should we introduce ihe novel doctrine that a man shall notbe entitled to forty acres if he follows a particular means of'gaining an honest livelihood.-' Kot' if (he argument is good a man who retires from the army fo settle in fhis province shall not have the accustomed forfy acres if he elects to join Mr. Weld's police force <hin<j ilut// m t'n.l province, we might extend the prohibit ion to those wlio join the ordinary police force, or who, in fact, set up any particular business or follow any occupation whatever. If soldiers retire and nettle, in the Province, grudge them not their forty acres, even though thev join a force to keep the peace of the colony and the province, and so do us further good service. So far we have argued the question on certain broad and general grounds. We will now look at it from another point of view. To talk about; alienating provincial land, when it is given to b<>nn Jul a .settlers, from the army, is the merest twaddle. We pay agents in -England, to obtain immigrants to come to this province; we give them forty acres ot land on arrival, if thev pay their own j)assage, or if we pay a portion of their passage money, we give them no land. We have a body of men in the army, located in this province, who have cost us nothing to bring from the mother country, who have for 3-ears lived in the colony, who are inured to hardship, who are formed of the very best material for good settlers, and many of whom have saved more or less money. These men have the choice of being taken from the colony with their regiments or of remaining here. Associations of conflicting natures incline them first to the land of their birth, then to the land whore they so long lived. A few inducements held out to them cause them to decide to remain here and make New Zealand the home of themselves and their children. "\V c at once secure a number of settlers on our waste lands, trade is increased with population, and revenue, provincial and general, and protection by increased j population. We would therefore treat these | men quite as well as we treat newly [ arrived immigrants from home, nay it_ is no great and marvellous stretch of generosity to treat them hotter, for surely they deserve more at our hands who have been toiling for many days and nights and have taken as yet nothing out of the colonial net. They will be a manifest gain to us, too, in every way, so that even on the simple plea of selfishness, if we were so debased as to have no spark of generosity or of gratitude within us, we should advocate the giving to every soldier in New Zealand who retires from his regiment to settle in the Province his forty acres of land, and other

j in iuldilion. The Superintendent id aiding the immigrants with land, seed, and ploughing, and so on. Wo would do the same with these retired soldiers. We would oiler them more inducements to set Ho 011 our country land than Mr. Weld can oil'eL' them as an inducement to join a force where they are, let his promises be what they may, as liable to be seriously treated, when it suits his purpose, as the* Waikato militia regiments and the Waikato immi- j grants have been. We would recommend that the Provincial Government should set | apart blocks of good land for all soldiers of) good character who can obtain their dis- | charge, and that in addition to this, j I every facility for bona JiJt: settlement should • be afforded, them. These blocks may bo si- I tuated cither North or .South and wherever ! they are main trunk roads should be J made through these blocks counectinc the various settlements with one another, and with the sea board. If it is well tkat we ; should have an increased population, surely !

if/ is best that we should have one alroadj familiar with the country, and inured to a bush life. Hence then we would further cirrv out the nroject which wo advocated some t imo ago, ofbuying .oft"' a number of men "whose tune ot service is nearly cxpucd, and who would desire to settle in tnc Province.