THE HOMESTEAD SETTLEMENT SYSTEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9124, 4 August 1888, Page 3

THE HOMESTEAD SETTLEMENT SYSTEM.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, The very great loss which is accruing to the colony, in consequence of the present continued" exodus of the people, gives an ever increasing importance to the question whether anything can be done— only to tempt those who think of going with the stream to alter their minds, but also to hold out permanent advantages to others from neighbouring colonies? It has been already shown that free grants of lands on the homestead system attracted numbers from the centres who have proved themselves good settlers. This system has fallen into disuse, principally because the demand was not supplied. Inaccessible or poor land is not supply. There are thousands and thousands of acres of surveyed land in the Northin _ Hokianga, for instance— waste, which the Government have been offering at 5s and 7s fid per acre, whole blocks of it without a bid. These are lands, moreover, which the Government would not part with two years ago under 15s to 25s per acre. Surely it would be a wiser policy to offer this land gratis, under the principles of the system named, while it remains at a nominal value, rather than wait for a further deterioration, or until it is worth no man's while to look at it. The colony can afford a profit of £350,000 to a Melbourne company, but she has no prizes to offer large companies of settlers who are shipping to Australia " because there is no prospect for a man ii New —lam,&c., Citizen. Auckland, August 3,1888.