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Otago Daily Times, Issue 527, 28 August 1863, Page 4

The Land question is one that cannot be settled too promptly for the welfare of the Province, and it would be exceedingly satisfactory to find some indications of an approach to unanimity of opinion on the part of the of the Council. All must be animated by a common desire, and united in a common object. Permanently to attach to the eoij the population in the first instance attracted by the fsime of the gold-fields ; to offer inducements to agricultural settlement, and to deyelope the producing capabilities of the country, ought to be the aim of an enlightened legislation; and it is an end that can be pursued without distraction, and realised without difficulty, if our legislators are. simply in earnest and ready to co-operate for the benefit, of the-conimon-wealth.- It-is the good fortune of the colony that it 3 land question is free from many complications of class rivalry and conflicting interests that have lentT so much bitterness to the discussion of the same topic in other places. The population is not separated into the two great classes of those who are in possession of the land and those who want to grasp it from them. Popular feeling is not Unduly excited,"and the deliberations of the Legislature are not overawed by Conventions Leagues and demonstrations. We have an* other point of vantage. Laid out before us on a broad surface as on a chart are the experiments and failures on tin's important subjectj in the neighboring colonies.. We, are reHeyedj from the necessity.;,.deprived of all excuse; for trying crude experiments of our own. For more years than it is easy to count this question of the settlement of the waste lands has been in every direction : around us the battle j ground of parties and factions. The most; advanced problems have been' set up for solution, the most revolutionary changes tried. Free selection both before and after, survey, 1 deferred payments, occupation on improvement; licences, terminable leases with: option, of i purchase, and a score of other measures j have been put in operation simultaneously or in j succession ,• and it is not too much to say that ] jn nearly, every one of the colonies the Land j question is in almost as confused a condition; *i ever, and as far off from an actual and final

settlement." Scarcely ap'lan yet tried has given more than a temporary and partial satisfaction, and in Victoria especially where the most stupendous effort's have been made to establish a permanent. and comprehensive system, not a single new Ministry out of the long list has come into office without holding a new Land Bill in its right hand. And perhaps the most remarkable circumstance of all is that the tendency ot the later legislation has been in a reactionary direction; so far as relates to the protection of the rights of the pastoral tenants against invasion. With these facts before us it should be our earnest endeavor to settle the land question in this province on a permanent basis before any embarrassing complications arise. The differences that divide the Council are not of a very grave, much less of an insurmountable, character. And the readiest and surest mean^ of bridging them over is a determination to adopt the simplest solution of the problem that offers itself. The more we attempt to elaborate a system ; to introduce into it -■' ingenious refinements 5 to impart to it conditions that require complicated guarantees to give them effect: the more luxuriant will be the crop of difficulties that is sure to spring up. Land is a commodity we have to offer for sale to the intending settler, and we cannot do better than fix a fair price upon it, sell it outright, let the purchase money drop into the Treasury chest for the legitimate uses of the Administration, and trust to the operation of tinmotives that usually weigh with men who invest capital in business speculations, for the progress of improvement. No doubt it is highly desirable that every acre of land that is alienated from the public estate should become as speedily as possible productive ; and we can well appreciate the motives of those who have sought to stimulate improvement by offering conditional facilities for settlement. Ct sounds, when we first hear it, like the enunciation of a very liberal policj"- to say, "We do j not care so rriiich about any direct cash re. turns for this land. You undertake to effect improvements of a certain value upon it within so many years, and it shall be yours." But our eyes artopen, and let us look about us. What have been the actual tangible results of a specious policy like this where it has been tried already ? We need not make invidious references. Indeed it is unnecssary, for the experi • enceof nearly all the colonies has been uniform In some instances the land has been forfeited. En others indulgence has been extended, either in the remission of penalties, or in the enlarge--ment of the term for improvements. In all cases, with a few exceptions,"the~speciaTobject" of this special legislation Has "failed. It must be evident indeed that cases will often present themselves, in which a strict enforcement ofthe improvement condition would operate harshly; and the policy of Government being invariably riot to deal oppressively with the public creditor, indulgence becomes a matter of course.^ But what is indulgence to an individual soon grows to be the demand of a class. If it is resisted a grievance is created. And common : cabse being made, and public sympathies being appealed to, no attempt at eviction is deemed wise or prudent, and the simple results are that after much difficulty and embarrassment, and psssibly a good deal of anger, the law and the Government that seeks to enforce it, have to submit to a nonsuit. •••■■■ Generally speaking, where an improvementcondition has been attempted to be enforced, it has been in connection with some land system possessing other features which were supposed to afford facilities for jobbing and monopoly. When the price has been reduced to an exceedingly low figure, capitalists have been anxious to buy up large sections, and either let a. their lands to tenants at a high rental or hold it until improvements in the neighborhood or other causes give it an enhanced value. To check this abuse various restrictive provisions have been enacted. Clauses prohibiting the purchase by any single individual in any one ygar! of more than a certain area of land, have been tried ; but it has been found very difficult to restriction the evasion of this provision by the employment of agents. The compulsory provision for the expenditure of a certain sum of money a nually upon every acre boughtj in addition to a light purchase sum is, as we have said, another of these artificial devices. They are simply attempts to correct one anomaly by the enactment of another, equally requiring to be held in check by some ingenious invention. There is but one way to avoid all this, and that way we have pointed out. It is to deal in the simplest manner possible with all transactions in land; to sell it at a fair price, to hand over the title to the purchaser, and to presume that he hag bought it not for the purpose of letting it lie idle, but with tlig much more sensible and intelligible purpose of getting his capital rendered back to him as" ; quickly as possible out of his purchase. -Enough has been seen elsewhere of the re- ; suits of the experiment qf " easy terms"—r or in other words, attempts to locate settlers on , allotments they have no means whatever of cultivating. Farming lands in this Province are honestly worth £2 an acre to the intending agriculturist. At the same time that price hag too much, of a bond fide character to serve the purposes of mere speculators. We cannot do better than assimilate our land system as nearly as may be to that prevalent in Canterbury, where the public land is simply bought and sold—and if our legislators would consent to act upon- this policy they would avoid a I score of complicated questions on which they are sure to disagree. ;