SETTLEMENT OF THE LAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7782, 28 January 1887, Page 4

SETTLEMENT OF THE LAND.

During the course of his speech on Tuesday evening, the Hon. the Premier made the following reference to the various schemes which the Government have devised for settling people on the land:—"l will now explain to you, as I have been asked to do so, what schemes we have adopted for the settlement of what may be termed people without means on Crown lands. Let me first deal with the village homestead special settlement. Under this system no allotment exceeds 50 acres, and for the first six months the settlers have nothing to pay In cases where there was bush land the Government saw that they could not expect men who had no means to go on it. Therefore they dec.ded to help them to clear it, paying them for c.eanng aud sowing in grass not more than £2 10s per acre up to but not exceeding 20 acres Further, they decided to allow £20 to assist them m putting np a house; so that if the settler was a handy man he could earn the £20 himself if he chose by putting np the house with his own labour. For the advances wo make for his house and for bush falling we charge him 5 per cent Now I will give you an example of what I have seen done:—A man takes up 20 acres of bush laud at £1 an acre—that is £20. Of that he only pays £1 a year for rent; it he takes from the Government his £20 for his house he only pays another £1 a year, and if he takes £20 to clear and sow 8 acres he pays £1 a year more • so that for £3 a year he may have the land and a home for himself. Of course some may say that a man cannot make money. out of a2O acre farm. Ido not say he can; but I say that many persons, with a free house and 20 acres of land, would be far better off than in towns paying £10 or £15 a year for rent and having no gardens. And then one who takes up laud under this system has it on perpetual lease; nobody can ever put him off that land. At the end of the term of 26 years his land is valued—it is fairly valued—and then he aas simply to pay rent on the capital value of hjs land* not on his improvements; he gets a renewal, whichsimply means a perpetual renewal to h;m. Consequently, if man is a worker, and if he can obtain two or three months' work in other places during the year, he will be able to maintain himself and family in comfort. I do not say he is to have no higher ambition in life If le makes a little money and wishes to go on a larger farm, he may transfer his holding; but we insist that he must not transfer the land to anyone who will not settle upon it, for we will not have the village settlement system put aside and under it there can be no such thing as a man holding an aggregation of blocks. Now there we have what is termed land nationalisation, because the land always remains the State's and for State purposes, and it means that a poor man may take up a home, and if he be of a worthy stamp can at least get sufficient food to keep his family. And I say that those people living m towns, paying their £10 or £15 a year for rent, who refuse to avail themselves of this system do notrequirevery mnch consideration — (Applause.) But we have done more than this: Under the new Land Act we have a small area system—up to 50 acres. Where a man says, " I do not want a loan, well we can give him up to 50 acres without making any advances to him. Then we have another system People may say " We want co-operation or association in dealing with our land." Well, we nave for those a special association village homestead scheme by which allotments up to 50 acres can be taken, also at a rental of five per cent, on the capital value of the land. They may agree to take up any block, and they ballot for the lots in the block. And we have anothei system—a special settlement scheme, not limited to 50 acres, and suitable for those having stores or workshops in towns and who cannot settle on the land. An association of 20,30, or 40 of this class may be formed and can obtain land from the Government at a fair price—2os to 30s per acre; but the Government insists that at least there must be one person settled to every 100 acres. Some sections may be 50 acres each, others 150 acres, but there must be one person settled to every 100 acres; and then we say to the storekeeper or mechanic in town who wishes to take up land under this scheme—"You must provide a substitute to go upon the land, and if there is not one family settled to every 100 acres the sections wiU.be forfeited." There are various other systems tm<ier which land can be obtained

under the new Land Act, buVit would taka too long to give detail* of all of them. We can say that during 1886, notwithstanding the depression, the low price of agricultural and pastoral products, we have been able to settle on the land more people than have ever been settled m any previous year in New Zealand. I have Se fro" A6d W IS fOf 12 months > but I will vhlrn i pr'i *? SeP^ber inclusive, the winter months. During that period, independent 1668 6 8 S IT hom^ tea, d sys&ui wehavesettled 1008 settlers on the land; and at the end of Sffi hU her r re 626 settlers under *£ by tele™ tifl S£ tm- I* m infdrmed 12000 l eaCh "P^ts about 90W of the land question. I have pointed out to you some of the conditions under which persons may obtain land There is another scheme which has been tried, but I frankly say I do not agree with sv'stem 1S *h T e ,hom^ead-the large homestead system. Under it land up to 200 acres may be given away for nothing to tJ£ yi Jl nt ifc casts u P°n the fam«y or holders of these homestead blocks the duty of clearing the land and building houses for them?o? e\h n7i m°re', they must make r°^s tor themselves also. In Auckland this system has been a failure; in America, ifc is said by some writers to be successful • but ™r« report*' I find that at least 30,000,000 of acres in the United States have been obtained by fraud under this system, and I think the United States is paying very dearly for the disposal of its land under this syS What I object to is not the price of the land— l lookups that as nothing-but this: that after uve years there is no guarantee that the land will remain as homesteads. According to our law, at the end of five year/ one speculator may buy up a whole block, and not a single block alone. According to the existing law relating to this large homestead scheme the State loses the ownership of the land. And I say that in the present condition of the colony we cannot afford to lose the land, and must insist upon people dwelling upon the land, and that it should not merely be the home of cattle _ and sheep.-(Applause.). I believe that our aim should be as far as possible to so irame our la^- that the State may keep some control over its lands—a control that will in future prevent large blocks falling into the hands ot a few persons."—(Applause.)