MUSINGS BY THE WAY, ON A TRIP TO TO THE NORTH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 102, 14 March 1862, Page 6

MUSINGS BY THE WAY, ON A TRIP TO TO THE NORTH.

( Com m unica ted. )

I had long heard of the fertile lands and balmy climate of the north, and a constant unvarying succession of what is now so well known as Dunedin weather, combined with a desire to get rid of the dull monotony of everlastingly picking up. the " siller" which, in common with others, had overwhelmed me, I resolved, come what might, that ,1 would venture on a trip to the north. The morning was all that one could wish ; it was not fine, for that would indicate rain, but there was only that amount of all-overish cloudiness which, in these antipodes, where things, likedraems, go.by.contraries, gave promise of an enjoyable day. There were two roads by which I might travel—the one was represented to be knee-deep iv mud, and the other as high as the Heavens, and as rugged as a rasp. I preferred the latter, having already been surfeited with a sufficiency of mud to last for some time. Breasting the JFlagstafF hill, I . confess, even though a denizen of Dnnedin town, to "a buoyancy of spirits which gave evidence that the cockles of the heart were getting warmed up.. I enjoyed by anticipation, aud really revelled in enjoying the fine picture which would be spread out before me ; it mattered little the difficulties I should encounter in pursuing my way by one of the thousand tracks which flocks of sheep and herds of cattle of the Excelsior breed had made. There was.no .doubt of the result ; a pinnacle of observation which would tempt an anchorite to leave his retreat, circling, winding, tacking, and breathing hard all the while, for I had dismounted, _ with a com r mendable anxiety to save the feelings of the beast which was my companion, I reached the top, and was received in the cold and clammy arms of a mist which might be felt. I comcommenced quoting " sic transit," when I was seized with a fit of coughing which nearly, did forme. As Fortune would have it, I encountered a man who had bought a flock of newly landed sheep to enjoy the mountain breeze, and to be out of the way of tutu ;he had not been successful in the realization of the latterpart of hisexpectationsas thenumerousbodiesin every direction indicated, but as he nevertheless had sufficient feelings to warn me to keep close alongside the track, and never to lose sight of the poles, I felt the utmost confidence. Strange land this—it appears to have been the laboratory of nature when she manufactured the smiling plains of the Taieri, for there is nothing but masses of rock on every side ; however, I had no time for abstruse meditations on the origin of things. So I pursued my way along one of the numerous tracks which meandered in all directions; rejoiced every now and then by the actual sight of a pole on , which the imagination might depict the intimation that all was right. I once was ventursome enough to think of turning round to try and have a look at the country, or the place where it was supposed to be, and I said to myself, for I ,am somewhat of a cautious habit, —let me see—the wind and rain are coming over the left, and had just got my head half round when, on descending a spur, the indices on which I relied, failed,—and the breeze aud'the mist came up gullier from both right and left. .On the former, a rapid and casual glance assured there was a caverous voidlike chaos of old, with which I desired no further intimacy, and in the latter we're the stumps of trees, indicative of the presence of bush, an admission into which would certainly not decrease the troubles of the hour. My companion, however, allayed my rising fears by the assurance that'we were as right—as he colonially expressed It—" as the hammer which killed Ned ;'' and he proceeded rapidly along what he called a " razor back," from certain peculiarities which he repre^ gen ted could only be thoroughly appreciated in the Northern Island. To beguile the way and dispel the gloom, which he evidently saw was gathering on my brow, he communicated certain facts which had come to his knowledge of men having lost their way and their lives in this enjoyable locality ; but I heeded him not. One opening in the sea of mist gave me a glance into what was beyond, and I was satisfied. Talk of rugged grandeur and Alpine scenery, and such like, and I acknowledge that the idea is beautiful; but tell me that I have some fifteen miles of this kind of country to pass over, and I tell you the reality is horrible. Nature, amid the wonderful defects with which she has visited me, has in pity endowed me with a. stoical fortitude, which strengthens by opposition. I have. thought that were the press to assail me,—that direst of all the ills to which humanity is beir—l should not succumb ; so, On this occasion, I resolved to use an Eastern metaphor, to wrap myself in the cloak of meditation, and to proceed on my way. I have found it a very useful ;..thing to accustom myself to the in-i fluence of mental abstraction. A dun presses for payment, my thoughts are immediately otherwise engaged, arid I assure him, with -perfect nonchalance, that his pursuit is a most laudable one, and will ultimately lead to success. An Editor reminds me, with too much empressement to be agreeable, that the beauty of my business advertisements is unimpeachable, but that the payment of them is getting unpleasantly in arrears. I assure .him that his perceptions of the, lovely are true to nature, and let man do what he may, he must advance with tardy and faltering steps, and not be too hasty in the pursuit of any one object, for fear of disappointment. •On the present occasion, I resolved to meditate on a Biibject somewhat congenial with the object of my excursion. Leaving my companion to deliver .me at the terminus of my day's journey, near .Cherry Farm, at Waikouailii, 1 gave'myself over to a rapid survey of the past, the present, and the desirable future of our land laws. Gifted with second sight, I almost fency that I see som% of those who were disposed to accompany me in my northern "tour, shrink with horror from the idea of a trial-trip in the laws of land ; but I will engage that the subject shall not be without use, at least if the reader— AS I amJsure he does—feels for his fellow-men. He will, therefore, take a plunge in, and come out dry and comfortable—near that little bay which gleams in the distance. The founders of the Otago settlement hit upon the right scheme for peopling this Province : there was only, one element required to its complete success, the : : want of which vitiated the whole—sufficient pluck to. carry it out. The payment of 10s. for an acre ofland.ori which:£2 was to be1 expended within four years—having, as a stimulus, to" exertion, the right of depasturing cattle over a considerable area, was the plan adopted when the Constitution Act first dawned on this enlightened community. The emigrant might-, roam abroad and select freely: where he liked —no -man making him afraid, and the capitalist, who loved to calculate the gains of sheep farming, was allured by, the tempting bait of-a license to depasture stock at the mere nominal rental of nearly half a farthing an acre. These were halcyon days—sin Tiad not entered into .our paradise ; ere long the sons of Cain cast an evil eye on the descendants of Abel, and out came that mother of all our woes, which at its baptism received the soul stirring title of the " Land Sale and Leases ;" it arid its progenitor saw the light in the same year 1856, "and the latter swallowed up the former. The intending settler was pushed into a series of corners called hundreds, being prohibited from casting a longiDg eye beyond, and the land was locked lipjibr 14 years unless a Governor chose, from time to time, at the clamorous entreaties of the people, to abstract a- little more from the patrimony and usurpations of the younger son.- : This awful ordnance, the part price of which was" the alienation of Southland, also permitted the speculators to buy land in blocks ;00000 acres in the south without- necessity: ©^improving the land to the extent' of £2 an acre1; trusting, not toa penal clause, but ..to that: enlarged commercial spirit: which tends to: make a profit of* what1 we pay for. This exemption was a direct fraud on those who had purchased under the, former..con;ditions, and its fruits may be seen by the passerby, a» he will enquire for'the 2000 acres'block land. I will now give the kaleidoscope another shake. An opinion got abroad that, as there.was no penal clause, the conditions of purchase were not fulfilled, therefore there.was really: no power to enforce the improvement of the land,: and eVery man who could scrape together a' little- mone}' mitated the gentlemen under the protection of

Mie " Land Sales and Leases Ordinance," and added acre to acre.' The' carcase was scented from afar, and borne on the favoring winds, many a", speculator hovered over us—until,., as .a. deterrent, the price of land was doubled. The northern seaboard was then thrown open,—that lain], of which those who knew is so well, spoke so unkindly, and of which more anon ; and it was found that the whole country would be at once bought up, as soon as available, at the upset price of £ lan acre. Speculators, with an amiability which is a pleasant feature in the case, each accommodated his brother speculator by withdrawing from.competition, only asking fora similar act of self-abnegation at a future period ; and what is the result ? That the anction system has silently and practically become the law of the country, and the poor man to obtain land must enter into the mighty struggle with the capitalist and the speculator. " I asked myself can this state of thingslast, and'Qtngo thrive ? —impossible. I must give one more shake of this pleasant picture—forming machine, and I have finished the day's stage. As if the difficulties were not sufficient, and the darkness brooding over the land not black enough—the restriction of selections—the increase of price,—the competition of the speculator had to be added, the division of the sections into allotments c^ from 70 to 100 acres, instead of 50 as was the former rule.

I hear of pressure from without—a meeting hero and a meeting there—and a portion of the press hounding on the public to more pressure yet. Here is a mighty theme, in which a real grievance exists, and the prophets are silent. The individual or the corporate body which would yield a single inch to. pressure from without, where justice does not back the claim, deserves to be cast headlong from the post of power and influence ; and there is mo' surer way to demoralise a people than to urge the governing authorities, by the coming elections; to yield where their convictions do not precede. If pressure there must be, try it in this case. Philanthrophists worthy of the name will find an ample and a congenial field in defending, the rights of the people to settlement On the land on liberal terms. If they shirk the duty because, it is arduous, or because it is too general to enable them to reap any particular benefit, then let-them retire as unworthy to advocate the cause of truth and justice. ( To be continued.)