MR. REES' COLONISATION SCHEME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9189, 19 October 1888, Page 3

MR. REES' COLONISATION SCHEME.

' • ' -TO THE KDITOR. Sib, —There are some aspects of Mr. Rees' scheme for colonising the East Coast which have not, I think, received the notice they deserve. There are already numbers of persons who have been ■ iudaced by the representations aof & emigration ff agents to come out and i buy land; in New Zealand, and who, having lost all or nearly all • they had, curse the country and : the da}' £ they landed. Is it wise to add to the number of such ? Mr. Rees has unbounded confidence in himself and in New ■ Zealand, and the pictures he will draw in England will differ widely from those which many a settler who came out on similar promises * could give of . the stern reality. It is well known: that Mr. Rees' business enterprises in New Zealand hitherto have been the reverse of successful, a similar, scheme to his present project having been the means of bringing much loss to those who engagod in it. Is it for the best interests of our future that such a man should be 'accepted.'as he undoubtedly is by the general English publio, as a representative of New Zealand ? 1 / " Again, we are groaning under the weight of an enormous debt. Mr. Reos is endeavouring to induce the British Government to guarantee 3 per cent, on a million of money. vlt is quite certain that this would never be conceded unless there were some distinct understanding that New Zealand should be ultimately responsible' for the whole, and the proceeding would thus amount to a backstairs way of increasing our public burdens, while the immediate benefit would chiefly go to private persons. New Zealand is suffering to-day from the former schemes of over-sanguine men, who refused to see the difficulties and impossibilities involved in their plans, till the flood name and took them all away. . Should this country allow this: process to be repeated without a protest?— am, &c., , October 17, 1888. W. Steadman Aldis.