MR REES' MISSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9186, 16 October 1888, Page 6

MR REES' MISSION.

CO-OPERATIVE COLONISATION.

PROPOSED COMPANY.

CAPITAL OF HALF-A-MILLION.

VIEWS OF THE GOVERNMENT.

SETTLING CROFTERS IN NEW

ZEALAND.

A GIGANTIC SCHEME. [FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT. J London, September 8. Mr. W. L. Rees has had one or two meetings of the committee which has been formed to promote his emigration scheme, but no very definite action has been taken on the subject since I last wrote. The prospectus of the proposed company has been partially drafted by Mr. Rees, and is to be submitted to the committee next Tuesday. It is probable that a capital of £500,000 will be asked for in £1 shares. There will not be much difficulty in raising this sum, always provided that the promoter succeeds in obtaining the anticipated guarantee of three per cent, from the Imperial Government. Mr. Rees himself is very sanguine on this point, but others on this side who know more of the view which Her Majesty's Ministers have taken of similar projects, are by no means so sanguine. Mr. Rees has endeavoured to obtain an interview with Mr. Goschen. and has so far succeeded that he has been afforded an opportunity of explaining his views to the Chancellors private secretary, Mr. Milburn, who listened courteously, asked a few questions, and expressed himself in language of the customary diplomatic phraseology. Mr. Rees thinks that he has made a favourable impression in tins quarter, but it is one thing to convince the great man's grsat man and an entirely different thing to convince the great man himself, especially a great man who keeps such a tight hold upon the public purse as does Mr. Goschen. Mr. Rees is now at Bath, and yesterday read a paper before the British Association in that city setting forth his views on emigration from the political economy standpoint. He was also anxious to read a paper before the Trades Union Congress at Bradtord, but the j < ealousy with which the Congress regards outsiders prevented him doing tnis. He is full of hope at the wav in which his scheme has been received" by those with whom he has conversed on the subject. He anticipates making a substantial start long before twelve months are over, and, indeed, nopes to have people on the land by that time. Mr. J. E. Cracknell, a gentleman who has been endeavouring in a small way to identify himself with Chaffey Brothers' irrigation scheme, is acting as honorary secretary to Mr. Rees" committee. He says that invitations have been sent out to people of influence and commercial standing, asking them to strengthen the committee with their presence, but up to the present no replies have been received. Amongst others. Mr. Scott, the manager of the European Mail, has received an invitation, though whether he comes under the category of a person of influence or commercial standing is perhaps open to question. Wi Pere has given a guarantee that if Mr. Rees' project is carried out, two million acres, extending from Hawkes" Bay to Taranaki, shall be thrown open to settlement. Mr. Rees himself, however, says that this is a very modest estimate of the land that will be available, inasmuch as he has received assurances from influential chiefs in the King Country that six or seven million of acres will be at the disposal of British settlers, if it can be shown that the first 250,000 acres are settled upon terms advantageous to the natives. Mr. Rees intends to visit Scotland in the course of about three weeks, for the purpose of bringing under pnblic notice a scheme that he has proposed for the formation of five crofter settlements or colonies upon land ceded by the native owners in Cook County to the New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company. This will comprise 2000 families, or about SOOO souls. Three-fourths of the families will represent 3000 men and women, who are estimated to have an average of three children to a family, thus making 7500 souls ; and the remaining 500 will consist of 250 unmarried men, ana 250 single women. Out of these 1750 men and 250 single women will be employed by the Association which conducts the scheme, and will be engaged in the work of clearing and cultivating 90,000 acres, which the Association will retain round the settlements. Each settlement will consist of 400 families, and, in all, 10,000 acres will be allotted to the Crofters in plots of from four to six acres respectively. The scheme embraces 111,000 acres, and such of the land as is not apportioned off amongst the Crofters will be farmed by the Association in the way that will produce the greatest commercial profit. Mr. Rees, however, has the option of taking up another 140,000 acres, making 250,000 in all, and this could be done by raising another £140,000 by share capital or debentures. Eich settlement will possess all the elements of civilisation, a church, a school, a store, mechanics' shops, surgeon, minister, &c. The hotels and houees of accommodation will be kept strictly under the control of the Association. The cost of transit and the actual settlement of the people on the land, which will cover buildings and necessary furniture, is estimated at £129,000,01 which £69,000 will be passage money, and the balance will go towarde the buildings and furniture, without including the cost of labour. The Association will erect buildings to the value of £6000 on each settlement. The cost of settling will be repaid by the families themselves. The money will be advanced to them, and they will have to pay interest upon it at the rate of 4 per cent., their homesteads not becoming their absolute property until the debt has been liquidated. The settlers who are in the employ of the Association will receive £1 per week wages in the case of men, and 12s in the case of unmarried women. These wages, however, will be subject to a deduction of 15s a week for rations sunplied_ to families, 12s for rations supplied to single men, and 8s in the case of single women. The cost of the rations is estimated at about £20,000 a year. It is roughly calculated that the Association would permanently sink about £350,000 in the operation of settlement. Of this £111,000 would be devoted to the purchase of the necessary acreage at £1 per acre, and the balance would be made up by passage money, £69,000; dwellings and furniture, £60,000; general buildings, £30.000; 100,000 sheep, £30,000; 5000 cows, £20,000; tools, machinery, etc., £20,000; etcs., £10,000. The expenditure for the first year is estimated at £121,000, of which £32,000 would go in wages; £20,000 in rations; £30,000 in salaries, taxes, and miscellaneous expenses; £9000 being interest upon £300,000 at 3 per cent.; £10,000, interest upon £200,000 at 5 per cent.; and £20,000 for grass seed, leaving £29,000 of the original capital of £500,000 to be carried forward. The outlay for the second year is estimated at £126,000: being wages, £32,000; rations, £20,000 ; interest, £19,000; salaries, taxes, and expenses, £15,000; 50,000 additional sheep, £15,000; 0000 cows, £20,000; seeds, extra machinery, and stock, £10,000. The Association is expected to receive a revenue of £129,000 at the end of the second year, of which £15,500 would be derived from profit on the sale of wool: £. r X),000 from the export of frozen meat; £30,000 from dairy produce ; £5000 from other crops, and the balance of £29,000 of the origiual capital brought forward, leaving a credit balance to be carried to the third year of £3000. The value of the property of the Association at the end of the second year is estimated at £936,300, v/hich, after deducting the capital of £500,000 which has been sunk, would give a credit balance of £436,300. Of the original capital of £500,000 it is proposed that £200,000 should be raised in the ordinary way—£lso,ooo by the general public and £50,000 by the Maori owners— and that the remaining £300.000 should be obtained either from the British Government Or from the public by the issue of debentures. . In connection with this subject I may mention that Mr. Edward Tregear contributes an article to the current issue of the Westminster Review on " Compulsory Emigration," the application of which he advocates to the islands of the Pacific. His scheme is rather a wild one, but he declares that if the Europeans do not speedily colonise the unoccupied islands of the South Seas, the Chinese will do so. His idea is that a Parliamentary Commission should be appointed with powers to investigate and report upon the condition of densely-crowded centres of population, and then to draft out all those individuals and families whose net earnings fall below a financial zero at which it is possible to provide good and sufficient nourishment. This Commission, he suggests, should work hand-in-hand with the police, avoiding all unnecessary offensive publicity. Mr. Tre«ear's scheme is attractive, but it is to be feared that its practicability ie open to doubt.