LAND SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5563, 14 April 1905, Page 3

LAND SETTLEMENT.

ESTATES IN HAWKK’S BAY

GOVERNMENT’S FLOOR KSSJVK POLICY. iTrom Our Special Reporter.) N AFIER, April 13. The social economist of tho cities, with whoso theories we arc all .so familiar, would find much to interest him in the broad acres of the Hawke s Bay province. I'or very many years tho paternal advice, “Go on the land,” found little realisation in these parts. The eyes of tho country had been picked out by those who had come before, and those who followed after saw nothing for miles and miles but great stretches of line country, divided into sheep and cattle mins. Tho Atkinson Administration, during a lengthy occupation of office, was content to leave tho land question, that vital topic of our present time, undisturbed. The squatter flourished. Ho held the rolling downs, the cream of the cleared land. For the late comer there was —the grim bush. John Ballanoo and the able men associated with him saw the danger to the common weal in the perpetuation of a policy that left tho land to a few, and that made the acquisition of decent small holdings an impossibility. It remained for the Seddon Government to extend that policy in a direction that ha.s added very materially to the prosperity of New Zealand. Hawke’s Bay has shared in the benefits accruing from settling tho people on the land, and benefited largely, for there is no province in the colony in which a vigorous land policy was more needed than in Conservative Hawke s Bay. And, strange as it may seem, many of those who were once amongst the strongest opponents of compulsory acquisition, with experience of its beneficent results, aro now amongst its warmest support°rprogross in Hawke's Bay for years was impossible. Tho land was locked up—and is still to a very considerable extent—and whilst there was room for expansion, that expansion so much required was unattainable. Compulsion was necessary to break up the huge monopoly- in land held by a limited nuniber of people. The writer was familiar with this province before an acre of land was compulsorily acquired. A vast difference is visible to-day. Tbe land is becoming settled. Sheep and cattle in numerous places have given place to a human population that produces and adds to tho wealth of the community. There is an important element in this compulsory acquisition which must not be overlooked in considering the effects of the Government’s policy—the question of voluntary subdivision. The Hatuma purchase had a great moral effect. True, the Court proceedings were very costly, but it was the first hig fight which the Government had had with an absentee owner, who, living in the south of France, was not disposed to part with a largo property that was bringing him in an assured income. Government said it was barring tho development of tho district, and took it. The moral effect was that other landowners, viewing askance such a policy, parted With certain portions of their extensive holdings, indicating in this manner that they recognised that any day the law might be applied personally. And so villages that no to a few- years ago were hemmed in by sheep stations on all sides have begun to get fresh vitality. Population is increasing. The ‘Tweaking up” policy is attracting people from other parts. The dairying industry is being developed, and with it the kindred industries which mean so much to tho small .farmer. Travel through the southern portion of Hawke’s Bay, for it is here that the Government’s policy- has been more vigorously applied than in the northern, and one heed not question for a moment the effects of the Government’s legislation. No area of country was more land-locked than that lying between Takapau, Waipukurau, and Waipawa. The purchase of Hatuma gave settlement in this vicinity an impetus, and the small holdings now visible on either side of the railway line, as tho train conveys you to Waipukurau, aro in striking contrast to the large unoccupied. sheep areas' which formerly existed. Following the acquisition of Hatuma came the settlement of Forest Gate, or as it is now known, Argyll. In its vicinity is the Government’s latest purchase, Mount Vernon, the cutting-up of which promises such a cheering outlook for both Waipukurau and Waipawa. The latter place has particularly suffered from its isolation, caused through lack of opportunity for getting people settled on the country surrounding it, hut with Mount Vernon in tho possession of numerous thrifty and industrious settlers, Waipawa’s prospects should take a decidedly brighter turn. Coming nearer Hastings, which is a rapidly progressing centre, and which aims at usurping Napier's claims to the position of capital town o# the province, one sees unmistakable signs of development. Tho settlement of Elsthorpe, Raureka, Mahora, and tho private subdivision of estates in the neighbourhood, was not without its beneficial effect on Hastings. One pleasing feature here is that tho increase in tbo small farming class has made it possible for tho Hawke’s Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Society to bold an autumn show of general agricultural produce, apart from the pastoral display made in the spring. Those autumn shows bring the small farmers into active competition with each other. This would not have been possible but for tbe settlement of the people on tho land. The great bush country of Southern Hawke’s Bay shows an equal degree of prosperity. The stem realities of the pioneer days have been mastered. The giant trees have fallen to axe and fire. The Crown tenants for the most part are a happy and contented lovE Their life's bard —aye, harder than the average citydweller would care to grapple with—but tbe difficulties they have had to surmount have proved a severe test, and to-day they are comfortable, and regard the future with hopefulness. The dairying industry is growing apace. The sawmiller of yesterndy is the dairyman of to-day. With the disappearance of the forest room has been made for stock, and tho monthly cheque_ from the factory is no small consideration to the men who thus live their lives in the far interior. Tho writer stood not long ago, on the eve of a political meeting, in a bush tavern away in the heart cf this country that has been so transformed by the hand of man. They were a sturdy, manly lot of fellows who had come into the township. They talked politics just as they do in the cities. But hero it was of tho land, not from its political economic standpoint, but of tho Government’s

policy as it affected them as: Crown tenants. “And the reason of your support of the Government?” I at last queried of one who had ridden in some miles to hoar the Literal candidate, “Tho Land for Settlements Act and the Advances to Settlors Act.” he cheerily replied.