MANGATAINOKA VILLAGE SETTLERS.

New Zealand Mail, 21 February 1901, Page 19

MANGATAINOKA VILLAGE SETTLERS.

CONFERENCE WITH THE LAND BOARD. Messrs J. W. Marchant (Commissioner), W. Hogg, J. Stevens and W. Reese, members of the Wellington Land Board, held a. meeting at the Public Hall, Mangatainoka, near Pahiatua, on the 14th, for the purpose of conferring with the village settlers on their requirements. Between forty and fifty settlers were present. The Commissioner having opened the proceedings by briefly explaining the object of the meeting, Mr Burrell produced a resolution passed at a meeting of the settlers a few days ago, “ That we be allowed to increase our holdings to forty acres on the flats and. sixty acres oil the hills/' - He urged that the present circumstances of the villagers were very different from what they were when lie first came to the settlement nine years ago. At that time there was plenty of roadwork and bushfellinor, and the village settlers di 1 not need to depend on what they e, .Id earn off their holdings. Now, it was necessary for some of them to work their sections as dairy farms, but they found the areas too small for the purpose. As for market gardening, the Pahiatua market was too small t° provide attractions in that direction, tie referred to the case of the lessee of a section adjacent to his own, who would have got £2O more than he did if he had been allowed to purchase. He also mentioned the names of two twenty-acre section holders who were compelled to work away from their homes because they were not allowed to purchase adjacent sections. The Commissioner replied that fh© Land Board was not inclined to allow the amalgamation of holdings so long as there was a demand for the homesteads.

Some discussion ensued respecting a section that had been transferred by a villager to a timber merchant. The latter used the section for a hors© paddock, and erected a cottage at a cost of £l6O, in which an employee resided. In reply to Air Hogg, the lessee denied that he charged any rent or deducted anything from his man’s wages on account of the cottage. A settler of twelve years’ standing pleaded age and infirmity, and 1 asked leave to transfer a section he had greatly improved to Air R. D. Cash, owner of an adjoining section. Mr Robinson, an original settler, complained that he was not allowed to sell out his five-acre section and house to a neighbour.

'Th© Commissioner: The Land Board very, fully investigated Air Robinson’s application, and after carefully considering all the circumstances, it found it necessary in Air Robinson’s interest to prevent him from parting with his home.

Air .Wiles, who said he had a family of thirteen, contended that he should have more than eighteen acres, ancl asked permission to buy out his neighbour.

Several other cases were cited. In one instance it transpired that a lady to whom a section was transferred failed to reside, and leave to live away from the section having been granted, her father let it to a tenant, from whom h© exacted rent.

The Commissioner explained that under the regulations sub-letting could not he allowed without his permission. A Voice: Why don’t you permit it, then? (Applause.) Mr Burrell pointed out the hardship of trying to enforce residence when villagers had to go away to find work. The Commissioner challenged those present to specify one instance where a reasonable request of the kind had been refused by the Board. Air Burrell mentioned a platelayer who had to go to Petone, but afterwards returned and lived on his section. While the man was absent he (Mr Burrell) was informed by the ranger that he could not obtain rent from the section on the owner’s account.

The Commissioner: The regulations do not allow sub-letting.

Mr Wiles: The Hon T. Duncan promised us that he would get ths regulations altered if he could.

Mr Joseph Jessop complained that he could make £6 a week in Wellington or elsewhere at his trade as a brewer, but he was not allowed to lease his section. If he left it unoccupied, it would go to wreck and ruin.

Air Thompson contended that settlers who converted their tenure into leases m perpetuity had no need to reside on their sections after ten years. The Commissioner said the Land Board had no wish to stand in the wav of the progress and iirosperity Q f the village settlers. They had serious objections, however, to sub-letting, or anything approaching landlordism. He was satisfied that the facts submitted by the villagers who were present would be duly considered. Admittedly, while the existing homesteads had served a wise purpose, owing to the way in which the labour market had altered, a new condition of affairs had arisen. Some of the settlers had to support themselves by dairying, and their sections were too small for dairy, farms. But it must not be overlooked that some of th© sections, especially the five-acre ones, were unfit for dairying, even if amalgamation was permitted. He thought the circumstances of the settlers needed careful investigation, and no doubt this would be done by the Beard. Already he had visited and interviewed a number of the settlers, and he trusted that the Board would go round the settlement and ascertain as fully as possible the position, the wishes, and the drawbacks of th© villagers. (Applause.) After this had been done they would be in a position to decide what course should be adopted, Mr Hogg expressed pleasure at seeing so many settlers present. He had. listened with interest to their representations, and he would candidly acknowledge that they had made out a good case. There was no denying the fact that since the settlement had been formed the conditions of labour bad altered. There were, however, certain considerations that weighed with the Land Board, and which could not wisely be overlooked. The man who had created these settlements was a statesman whose memory was revered. His object was to give a section of the workingclasses, whose position could hardly otherwise be improved, an opportunity of leaving the towns, of escaping the private landlord, and attaching themselves to the soil. Many of the original settlers had sold out, secured larger properties, and done well; but they owed their first rise in life to the village settlement system. (Applause.) Unquestionably the position of the village settler to-day differed materially from that of the settler nine or ten years ago. Work on the roads and railways had pretty well disappeared, and some of the sec-tionsNvere-manifestly too small to maintain them and their families. (Applause.) But ther©Were objections to amalgamation, and they should look at the question from different standpoints. Amalgamation implied depopulation; and in that case their school, their tradesmen, their township would suffer. 'Mangatainoka had not grown as he anticipated, but if the villagers were allowed to buy one another out, what would be its fate as a centre? It would be in the position of the Chinese lady's foot in the iron slipper —crushed. (Hear, near.) Then, again, it was not intended that the village seotions should in every instance be a permanent home. They were stepping stones, and training places where the town worker could . prepare himself for something better in the shape of a good rural area. (Applause.) One great object was to enable the worker and his family to get away from the rack-renting landlord. He was entirely opposed to sub-letting. No working man should be put in a position to sweat his fellow. Private landlordism had been the blight of civilised countries, and he hoped it would not be fostered in this colony. His wish was to see every working man free from any landlord, unless it was the Crown. (Applause.) The Board, while considerate, must be cautious about the enlargement of holdings, because if the process of amalgamation was facilitated, there was the danger that the villagers would be tempted to borrow; they would fall into the hands of the capitalist; and the fat man would quickly have them at his mercy. He asked them not to view the Land Board as an institution that wished to oppress them. The desire of the Commissioner and his colleagues was to piot-ect them, and no reasonable concession designed to improve their position and acfd to their comfort and prosperity would be withheld. (Applause.) Air Stevens said he regarded settlement as a moans of enabling people to better their condition. To give them insufficient to keep them in comfort dia not constitute settlement. In some instances the amalgamation of small holdings-might be advantageous, but the Land Board had to act with caution. He referred to the state of the ryots in India, and the famines that occurred there as illustrative of the evils of allowing the control of the land to fall into the hands of a. few people. The present land regulations were defective, because they did not give the Board discretionary power. Air Jessop s application seemed a fair and reasonable one What should constitute a homestead should be determined by qualify, and not simply area. Ample room tor full employment should be given. (Ap-

plause). The Board, he assured them, desired to help them. (Renewed applause). The meeting then closed, and the members of the Board proceeded to inspect the holdings of the villagers*