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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9118, 28 July 1888, Page 4

We can fairly claim that if we cannot get the Ministry and the Parliament to move in the precise line in which we want them to go, that we have made them progress forward in the right direction, and that at a pretty rapid pace. Mr. T. Thompson's clause, moved in the new Land Bill, that the Minister should set aside 10,000 acres annually for the village settlement system, was defeated by an accident, or rather by the neglect of those who ought to have attended to business. As to that, however, there is no use in crying over spilt milk. But we think it is evident that we shall attain the main purpose of all our efforts, and that is, the promotion of settlement by small holders in the country to the North of Auckland, where the conditions are probably more favourable for this kind of occupation than on any other portion of the earth's surface, while the climate is mild and equable, enabling crops to be grown with the luxuriousness and continuity of the tropics, it is yet in such a happy latitude as to preserve all the vigour and power of the Anglo-Saxon race. It would be the grossest neglect if the Government of New Zealand did not promote the kind of settlement adapted to the country, and institute plans which could be persevered in year after year till the population in the North was twenty times what it is at present. The Minister of Lands, we now learn, has directed the Auckland Survey Department to note the areas in the North suitable for small settlements, and these are to be available for. bona fide occupiers at 10s per acre, or if taken up under the leasing system, the occupier will only have to pay ,6d per acre per annum. Forty acres in the North, in a good district, is an ample farm even for a man possessing some amount of capital, and he may have this, for all time, for £1 per annum. But however good a scheme of settlement may appear, it will be of very little practical benefit if it is simply embodied in an Act of Parliament, and if the regulations applying to it are merely displayed on the walls of the Land Office. The Government must take vigorous steps to bring any plan into force. It will not do to say that information can be had at the Crown Lands Office, to be obtained from a clerk who is more or less well informed, but who probably is in a j hurry to get on with his clerical duties, and who moreover is far too much of a swell to be questioned and crossquestioned by one of the horny-handed. The Government must thrust the details of the scheme before all and sundry, offer all possible facilities, and give every aid and accommodation. We may remark that the incessant changes of the conditions of settlement are exceedingly iniurious. Time is required to get any system thoroughly into the minds of the people, and no plan can be said to be fairly on foot till it has been in operation for a few years, when the best class of settlers will be attracted by the success of those who have been the pioneers. It is stated that the Hon. Mr. Richardson is to visit this part of the country after the session. We hope he will make a careful examination of the northern districts, and be the means of causing many thousands of fertile acres to be converted from waste lands into fruitful farms.