COUNTRY GHATS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8270, 31 May 1890, Page 1 (Supplement)

COUNTRY GHATS.

No. I. [BY S. S. it., TOAICAU). OWNING somewhat truant dispositions, and inclining to an autumnal wandering, we left our " flourishing " settlement of Tuakau on May-day morning early with the intent to spy out the fatness of the land from some neighbouring elevated coign of vantage, and consider the pleasant places in which so many lines hud been castnot east away, surely ? Arrived after a live miles walk at tho foot of the " hill of cedars," from which the district of Pukekohe lakes its designation. we soon became aware of the painful distinction that exists between walking manfully on ways that are straight and the erratic bow-like mode of progression necessary to reaching an exulted station in this world. We concluded, however, that there was eminent consolation in the thought that the more we became elevated above the world towards the moral atmosphere of heaven the more spiritually-minded it was likely we should become, and this comforting idea doubtless mitigated much of tho uphill anguish we were experiencing until one of us (not the writer) brought his dexter knee into sharp and sudden contact with an unnoticed rock, when the contortion of feature and ultra blasphemy which the incident gave rise to depressed us to such a degree that, lifting up our voices, we wept. Yes ! wept disconsolately. An imitative " kaka " from a neighbouring rata took up the refrain, and in an instant the bush was musical with varied cadences evidently sympathetic of our serious decadence as our ascent to moral possibilities was so ruthlessly nipped in tho bud by that untimely descent, to the abyssmal depths of profanity. Coming to a recumbent position, in the absence of the time-honoured sackcloth and ashes, we chewed the cud of bitter reflection, and should probably have succumbed to the situation had not our sanguine companion Q. —he of the collision experience—suggested liquid refreshment from the pocketpistols wo each carried, whilst he supplied a softly whispered reminder that "although ' man proposes,' some occult influence usually puts in its oar and interrupts the currcntof affairs." This was rather Jesuitical on the part of our friend, but leaving the onus of any moral delinquency there was to bear for his own delectation, we spliced the mainbrace, grasped an imaginary Excelsior banner, and overcoming all intervening obstacles, gained the summit of the .Mount of Cellars, and looked down upon Jerusalemnot the goal of the Crusaders of old. but the homely village of Puui, whose inhabiters have dignified their hamlet with the name of that Eastern city wherein the ashes of Christ rest calmly beneath the Hag of "The Impostor" (so-called).

A MAN't.'SIKICKNT VIEW. What au extended vista of level, undulating, and gently hilled country, divided and subdivided into seemingly happy homesteads, meets the eye from this our standing pointthe islanded Waikato, Onewhero, Kohanga, mid their heavily-timbered background to the south ; westward glances the Pacific in the distance, with the Heads, Wniuku, Mauku, Maioro, and many another settlement in the foreground ; Pukekohcelose at hand, with Drury, t'apakura, the smoke from Onehunga and Auckland, and the ocean waters of the East toast, arediscernablo to tin: north, ilarrisvilic, Tuakau, I'okeno, Mercer, and the regions thereabout and beyond, even to the Thames and Piako, are visible eastward, with clearings ami residences, churches, mills, and other public buildings, " Thick as leaves in Vallaiubrosa," anil all speaking of industry, riches, ami perhaps content. We were thinking aloud that such a smiling landscape studded with comfortable-looking homos, the innumerable cattle upon a thousand hillK, interminable ileecv tlocks, garnered crops, and what not, said much, and very much, for the thrift, perseverance, and ultimate wealth of our colonial settlers— " When like a silver clarion rails; Tin', accents of an unknown tongue."

a i-'.vj;mkk's DISCONTENT DISCUSSKD. My soliloquy hail been overheard. v > and the others were at a distance, "splicing," and the unknown, who was, apparently, a small settler in the neighbourhood, swooped down on me with an energy which looked like mania, but which I afterwards attributed to the outcome of despairing hope, as with apoplectic tendency hi: suddenly launched out, " Ultimate wealth, ha, ha! J say, Mister, are you so (adjectively) verdant and unsophisticated as to imagine that them developers of our most important industry, bar none, benefit by tho wealth they create ? Not a little bit, unless you except the bare tucker they raise for homo use, and that's only a necessary of life, not wealth."

"But, my friend," I remarked, "the farmer or settler is surely not such an imbecile as to cultivate all the kindly fruits of the earth, and rear those multitudinous herds and flocks we sec for the sole benefit of other people? My idea certainly whs, that the farmer's object, as that of every man of business, is to obtain a fair rate of interest on his outlay." "So it were," observed the stranger, " but as a new-comer, he found hissolf handicapped. There was an extreme price for purchase of unimproved land ; there was inexperience, cost of labour, oxcessive railway rates, insufficient markets, middle men's profits (an awful item), unreliable seasons, and the Lord only knows what; and finding hisself year after year going to the bad, ain't he compelled to have recourse to that adjective pound of flesh claimant, the mortgagee ; so, with overbearing interest due, and other difficulties pressing, where does the farmer's 'content' come in ? He produces wealth by his industry, sure enough, but it don't add to his own material comfort, you bet, but goes to swell the coffers of the landlord or mortgagee ; and what with low prices for stock, cereals, fruit, anil all other produce, the road rates, charitable aid rates, other rates and outgoings, and that inevitable eternal interest, tho farmer's "going under" is only a question of time. In spite of this, ain't it suggested that the nearly ruined settler is to have another liability to stagger under in the shape of a land tax, so that not only ruin and bankruptcy will stare him in the face, but he will be just reduced to the last stage of exhaustion."

Feeling at this stage somewhat exhausted myself, and in want of a refresher, I invited my new acquaintance to join our lot, and partake of what was going, which ho did. After the inner man had been refreshed, my agricultural friend again buttonholed me, as I asked him what remedies he would propound in order to place tho farming interest on a more satisfactory footing. My friend replied : "Well, you must first remove the cause of the many disabilities under which we groan. Two pence half-penny a gallon for milk at the creameries ain't going 1 to tender as atiluent; and, since anyone can buy cartloads of -butter in town at 3d or 4d a pound, there don't seem much chance of raising a bank account in that direction; but it is chiefly the heavy pecuniary liabilities which are ground into us by those financial fiends, lawyer cusses, and Parliament frauds, who ~ " "Stay, dear sir," I observed, "go easy, and do not, I entreat, speak in such disrespect of those whoare placed in authority over us ; but remember the Christian duty which has boon impressed up >n us from childhood's halcyon days, to be content in that state of life to which a considerate Providence has called us ; to order ourselves lowly and reverently to all our betters ; to submit ourselves humbly to our masters, and " "Submit ourselves, bo hanged," interjected my friend, "but, since you're a going to quote Scripture, Mister, just look here a minute. Do'ee see that place on this side of Harrisville '! Well, that's the settlement of North Pukokohe. The folk there calls it Jericho. And, d'ye see this place towards tho west? That's J orusalem, so-called- Now take them two points a3 the typical bounds of the farming interest, and you may know that the settlers 'twixt that and there have fallen among the unsocial thieves we-call monopolists and money lenders, and they have despoiled us of our substance, and left us wounded, naked, half dead, and in dire need— of the covert hypocrisy of the Levite, nor yot of the charitable aid of any stray Samaritan — but of fair play that will give us half a chance, and provent the decadence of our source of all wealth. Tho unjust laws of the land, and the unwise legislation of our misrepresentatives, call for reformation and plenty of it."

" There is much sense in your remarks," I replied, " and there is no doubt whatever that the farmer labours under many and serious disadvantages. You obtain, generally, low prices for your products, and pay high values for all you require in exchange, with the result that your profits are almost all absorbed by outsiders, and you come to grief. The only remedy I can sco for this is in association, when by union you may break through the trade rings which infringe your just rights. You suffer, moceever, by the exhaustive rate of interest levied by the mortgagee and landed proprietor. The reason of such oxcessive charges is probably owing to the fluctuating and uncertain value of securities, and this systematic plundering can hardly be prevented whilst it remains impracticable for law or legislature to regulate to a fixed per centage the untaxed charges of the legal fraternity and the moniec! interest. But beyond all this you arc also unduly and unfairly imposed on by the incidence of taxation, as it is applied both directly and indirectly, and, in this connection, just character these precepts, my friend, in thy memory that it may be well with thee, viz., that when the next candidate for legislative position requests the support of your vote and interest, bail him up, and require a reply straight to these two demands :—(1) Will you, in view of the fact that ."{"3O private owners, and 16 banks and companies, possess between them seven and a quarter millions of acres, and that 1000 landholders monopolise nearly 18,000,000 acres of the landed property of the community, advocate the imposition of a tax on all unimproved land in the colony, whether held by absentees, or resident land monopolists? and (2) Will you, in pursuance of the most justifiable presentment of equitable taxation, support some scheme by means of which the incidence of taxation may be laid in just proportion to income upon all classes, so as to equalise the 20 percent, paid out of his meagre wage for Customs duties by the poor man, by an equivalent '20 per cent, of the wealth which the rich man of privilege drains from the vitals of the colony '! Your candidate will probably hem and haw, deprecate taking excessive measures or making pledges, insist that his hands must not be tied, that ho must be allowed all latitude to meet possible exigencies, etc., ad nauwajii ; and, in short, decline giving a definite assurance in this caso. Under these circumstances you will do well, my friend, and serve your order and every other order, by figuratively seizing that candidate by the nape of the neck, and incontinently dropping him outside the window ; and so on with the next, until you have discovered the right man. Then you will have effected the first great step towards the amelioration of your difficulties, towards emancipation from white slavery. And now, as the shades of night are coming, faro-thee-well, with the hope that more prosperous times are coming."

RETURN 110.MK. Rejoining my party, who had already' commenced the descent, 1 was in time to see <,>., who had trodden inadvertently upon a loosened stone, lose his equilibrium and roll gracefully down the declivity to where an opportune fence obstructed further progress. Q.'s striking features here came in conflict with some barbed wire, and the consequent expletives that mingled with the evening air were fearfully intense. One of the crowd refering to a former remark, solemnly uttered the words Farilin de.AMnvi.iave.rni ; another, playfully hinted at the historic fact of .lack falling down and breaking his crown ; a third asserted that coming to the point too suddenly was open to objection ; whilst yet another insisted that for perseveringly coming to the scratch l>> was unequalled. This was adding insult to injury, and our friend's rejoinders were more expressive than polite. He regained his equanimity, however, and as we wended our way homeward we unitedly agreed that our neighbours'" lines" wore not all cast in pleasant places or under the happiest circumstances, and for one that was straight and leveL, there were very many which sustained strained relations, constant twists, and most cruel barbs.