FREE GRANTS OF LAND TO IMMIGRANTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 144, 2 May 1862, Page 4

FREE GRANTS OF LAND TO IMMIGRANTS.

(communicated.) On the reading of the Superintendent's message No. 3 to the Provincial Council on Tuesday evening, it transpired that the proposed regulations with respect to the granting of land orders to immigrants, were mainly copied from the Auckland regulations on the same subject. It appears that a committee has been nominated to ascertain how the system of free land grants has operated in other provinces, and to express an opinion as to the advisability of adopting similar regulations in this Province. Although it must be conceded that the message of his Honorthe Superintendent, and the proposed regulations for granting land to immigrants, are conceived in liberal spirit, yet it appears to us that iv the formation of the proposed rules, all the faults ofthe Auckland system have been adopted, and the few good points in the regulations taken as a model, htve been, if not entirely excluded, at any rate modified. If Otago is to compete successfully with other provinces fbr population, the advantages offered to immigrants must not be less than those presented by its competitors. If this province offers a less quantity of free land, it must be shown that the-Province of Otago possesses more fertile lands, a healthier climate, and better means of communication than obtain in the other provinces, or failing these greater qualifications, the quantity of land proposed to be granted to the immigrants must be no less than is offered by competing Provinces. In clause 10 of the proposed "alterations in " the land regulations," the following scale of free grants to immigrants paying their own passage is adopted, viz.: —• " For any person 18 years of age and up- " wards, 20 acres. For any person upwards "of S years and under 18, 10 acres." ' Now the regulations of the province of Auckland provide for just d»uble these quantities, viz., 40 acres for adults and 20 acres for children over 5 years of age Unless in- the ultimate framing of the regulations in respect tothe class of land to be allocated for free grant purposes, and the mode of procuring such land by the grantees, it is intended to construct them on a much more liberal basis than those of the province ot Auckland, we can hardly see the advisability of offering only half the quantity of land that Auckland does. We may here refer to the working of the free grant system in the Auckland Province. Taken as a whole it can scarcely be said to have worked successfully, or at any rate to have fully realised the anticipation of its promoters, and the unsatisfactory results may be ascribed, not so much to any inherent faults in the system itself, as to the many abuses that have crept in the application of

its details. On the one hand, there has been an excess of liberality; generosity has not nlwnys been justness—and on theother, faulty and narrow measures have marred the success of the scheme, and caused, in respect to the body of land order immigrants, disappointment and dissatisfaction. For instance, a person desirous to emmigrate to Auckland, and wishing to avail himself of the privilege of a free grant, will place himself in communication with the accredited Agent of the Province, and will from him receive a form of declaration for him to fill up, to the effect that lie, A. 8., is about to emigrate to the Province of Auckland at his own expense, in such and such an occupation,—farmer, capitalist, or otherwise. In this form the intending emigrant must refer to some respectable householder, as to the hona fide character of his description. For instance, we will suppose A. B. to be a clerk, or small tradesman, —if he possess a foot square of garden and has the least idea ofthe difference between wheat and turnips, he will forthwith write himself down "farmer," and call upon his friend, B. C, to corroborate his statement, which after some persuasion, B. 0. consents to to. In due course, and after transmitting a fee of 10s., A. B. receives from the Agent of the Province a printed form, entitling him on certain conditions, to a grant of forty acres. Now we will suppose A. B. on board ship in London or Gravesend, he has scarcely got his lug-, gage stowed before he is pounced upon by a person who asks him if he has got a land order ? and A. li. v sees that all the fuss and formality he had gone through was all moonshine, —for here was a clerk with blank form ready to fill up at the small charge of half a sovereign! Now this is no fiction, and this hawking of forty-acre grants took place on every vessel bound for Auckland ; whether such is the case now or not, we know not. The first evil attending this indiscriminate issuing of land orders, was, that of allowing any agent to make a trade of them, the consequence was, that inasmuch as 10s. per head could be made out of every emigrant, the agent, and the agents of the agent, adopted, every possible means to induce persons to emigrate to Auckland—the most false and improper coloring was given to the advantages of the 40 acre giants, and the grossest misrepresentations indulged in. Consequently, hundreds of people, utterly and completely unsuitable as immigrants were brought into the Province, with most of whom the inducements held out, were connected in more or less extravagant anticipations with the snug little farm of 40 acres, that they thought awaited their kind acceptance. It is no exaggeration to state that scores aud scores of persons came out to Aucland, with the serious expectation of finding their 40 acres of land ready cleared and fit for occupation. Hence the innumerable complaints and expressions of disgust by the disappointed immigrants, and these complaints, whicli were often in as exaggerated a style as their previous expectations, had the effect of casting contempt and suspicion on the system, and of deterring really desirable immigrants from availing themselves of its provisions. The mode of procedure in procuring the land by the holders of free grants, did.not place the land sufficiently in the reach of the land holder, he was merely enabled to enter into competition with other purchasers, and the consequence has often been, that after a grant-holder has probably travelled scores of miles up the country and made a selection, he has had the mortification of seeing the land he required pass into the hands ot another, and that other, in some cases a capitalist.with whom it would be madness for him to compete. Respecting the arbitrary provisions of clause 17 ofthe proposed alterations, we have already pointed out how unnecessarily stringent are the conditions of residence, and we think that if in- ! stead of such strictness on this point, it had been provided that a certain amount of improvement and cultivation of the land so granted should be required within a given time, it would effect more for carrying out the intentions of the Government. As it is, an immigrant may allow his land to lie perfectly idle for the whole five years, and be probably following some other calling in a distant part of the province. An outlay of capital in the shape of money, and labor expended in clearing, fencing, and cultivating the land, pre-supposes occupancy, and such works of cultivation should not be discouraged by holding out to the grantee the fear that all his labor and money may be thrown away if be by any necessity or chance be called out of the province for 12 months. To ensure the satisfactory working of a free grant scheme, every provision should be made for the immigrants to avail themselves, thoroughly of the benefits it is intended they should derive, and the success of the scheme should not be endangered by the existence of unnecessary restretions. The land intended to be allocated, for the purpose of free grants should be specially set apart for this purpose, so that the grantees may have every facility for selecting and obtaining their land. Whether in the event of more than one applicant for the same land, a 3 system of auction or ballot be the most desirable plan, the committee appointed to consider the free grant scheme may best determine. Above all, it is ofthe first importance that the agents oi tbe Provincial Government in England should carry out the plans of the Government with proper discretion, and that no misrepresentations be made to the intending emigrant, either by the agents of the Government, or the Provincial Government itself, directly or indirectly. The Government have clearly admitted the desirability of inducing extensive immigration, in order to consolidate the prosperity of the colony, let, therefore, no illiberal spirit be manifested, either in the quantity of land to be offered to immigrants, or the conditions attached to its possession.— Settled,population, is what is required, and if a liberal scheme of free land immigration be instituted, Otago, will no longer be, in the language of his Honor the Superintendent, "as regards man, a perfect desert," but ere many years have passed, smiling fields shall take the place of desolate wastes, —snug home- . steads will be seen where now dreary rocks < alone break the monotony of the scene, and the cheerful busy hum of prosperous industry will be heard, where now the cry of the bittern or the plash of the rushing river, are tbe only sounds that salute the ear of the traveller.— The mantle of desolation shall no longer be spread over the laud, and the silent " wilderness shall blossom as the rose." |ITj:rTT «. I ni . rT , ff r ..i .....■■. H.11..U. vmuiiiunvraMi4Ui.ii£AMial±Wii£aAvuiujuz>2lßrta Tub American Mail.—The American mails by. the Africa, which were landed at Queenstown yesterday morning about 3 a.m., left Queenstown by special boat to Cork at 3.40 a.m. A special train conveyed them to Dublin, and thence to Kingstown, 'where a special boat, wliich had been kept in steam all ni<*ht, was in readiness to carry them to Holyhead. 0 They left Holyhead by a special engine, which had also been kept in waiting all night, and arrived at Euston-square at ten minutes before nine in the evening, having thus accomplished the journey from Queenstown to London in 17 hours and 10 minutes. The distance from Holyhead to London 204" niiles) was accomplished in 5 houi-3 nnd 43 mm.,• including all stops and delays by impediments on the line This is probably the most extraordinary expressing on record, bearing in mind the fact that the railway"company had very short notice of the inteutions ofthe Post-office, nnd that the ordinary traffic j of this important line did not admit of interruption.— Times, Jan. 2. \