THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9149, 3 September 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1888.

As the settlement of the country by an industrious and self-sustaining community is that to which every intelligent colonist must look as the basis of the future and permanent prosperity of New Zealand, we should watch with interest a proposal that has been made by the Legislature and Government of Natal to the Imperial Government in connection with the scheme of State colonisation. All the greater interest attaches to it, in that it promises to be the first practical experiment on the lines laid down by the Associations that are agitating in England the question of Imperial colonisation, and is, in fact, the response of the colony of Natal to the efforts of these Associations to elicit reciprocal action on the part of the Colonial Governments. The proposal has been formally submitted to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, by Mr. Henry Kimber, M.P. for Wandsworth, at the instance of the Government of Natal, and in concert with those who are associated with Mr. Kimber in promoting the cause of State colonization. The experiment is not on

an extensive scale, as it contemplates the location on the banks of a tributary of the Umzumkulu, in that colony, of only a community of 72 selected families numbering about 360 souls ; but it is made with the intention of having the scheme developed to any extent which circumstances warrant. For this purpose that colony offers 72 lots of 200 acres each, of land already surveyed, and being well watered and grassed, suited for both agricultural and pastoral pursuits. A capital of £200, to be raised as proposed, is to be advanced to each family; the settlers to be almost exclusively of the farming and farm labourers classes, with such an admixture of carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, masons, tailors, tanners, and other tradesmen as might be requisite for making the little community selfcontained ; and it is provided that the Immigration Agent for the colony in London shall have the absolute veto on the selection of emigrants. The money, £14,400, would be raised on the guarantee of the Colonial Government, endorsed by the Home Government, at 3 per cent., and interest of 4 per cent, would be charged to the settlers, thus giving a-half per cent to each Government by way of profit, or to reimburse expenses. This charge for interest would amount to £8 per annum to each family ; and £4 a year additional for sinking fund would . repay the principal in 29 years. The security to the Governments would be the 14,400 acres of fertile land, being improved by 360 industrious settlers, with 72 houses and a total working capital among them, after paying their passages, of say £10,000. i Such, is the proposal submitted by the Natal Legislature to the Imperial Government, and in submitting it, Mr. Kimber enters into interesting details as to the manner in which it would be carried into effect, as a model for the future conduct of a large scheme intended "to cope with the yearly increase in the Home population." As the sum requisite would be too small to be raised by the creation of public stock, it is proposed that the Imperial Government should in this case advance the money, the Colonial Government sharing the responsibility, or that it should be raised by colonial exchequer bills or bonds endorsed by the Imperial Government; vyhieh, if the experiment proved successful, and was repeated on a larger scale, might be merged in public stock ; and with the object of starting this first experiment, it is urged that the Government take a " vote of the House of Commons for the amount on a Supplementary Estimate, at the same time as they take the Crofter Emigration vote, during the present session." Conditions of course are attached for ensuring occupation and cultivation, and the payment of the rent charges, &c., and among the details it is laid down that the residences of the settlers should be near together in village form, having in view facilities for education, public worship, and the creation of a spirit of co-operation and municipal life. Now it would be premature to pronounce on the success of a scheme that is only in embryo ; but anyone with colonial experience may perceive that it has in it the elements of success, and that mutatis mutandis it would be quite as applicable to New Zealand as Natal, if not more so. It is a happy thing for us that the experiment is being undertaken for us by another colony, for we have not the creative faculty, and can only work in well-worn ruts ; and there is very little doubt that the scheme once started in Natal, its applicability to a country like ours, with incomparably greater attractions, will be discovered by somebody. " The song, the sigh of the weary," that "farming will not pay," which has hitherto made so many of our settlers listlessly hang their amis, will not deter those concerned in this South African venture, where probably there is no market at all. It is clearly intended that the settlers shall satisfy all their household requirements within themselves, and as it is estimated by the promoters that one man's work in seven of the population is sufficient for producing everything required by their community, they are at least not likely to be in want, while no doubt provision can be made for transporting to England, where there is a market, the surplus produce representing the labours of the remaining six—men, women, and children ; and that this surplus so conveyed will not only meet the rent charges, but ultimately place a substantial balance to the credit of the members of the little community. This is among the advantages of such combined and co-operative settlement as distinguished from the sporadic form which settlement has hitherto taken in these colonies, where the units are hustled out on the shore, to go | and look out each one for itself. The scheme is evidently drawn with experience and skill ; pity only is that the location of settlers will not be under more favourable conditions than those found in Natal. The district selected is said to be well watered, and favourable to the settlement of an agricultural and pastoral community; and all honour to the Legislature of Natal, which has been the first to recognise the importance of the great movement that is proceeding in England to relieve the congestion of population as an Imperial and imperious necessity. Unfortunately for us, we have so wasted our substance on riotous living that we do not appear at present to have the heart to initiate a great scheme for the settlement of an industrial population on the lands of the colony ; for who can doubt that if, like the Government of Natal, we could take advantage of the overtures made by those moving in the cause of State colonisation at home, we could receive and locate many hundreds of thousands of the very best class of settlers from Great Britain as self-sustaining communities, under circumstances of climate, soil, and surroundings, incomparably more advantageous and attractive than anything presented by Natal, or any other portion of the colonial dependencies of England ?