THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1902. LAND FOR RETURNED TROOPERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12472, 1 October 1902, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1902. LAND FOR RETURNED TROOPERS.

I!he public will sympathise heartily with the object of the deputation that waited on the Minister of Lands last Monday to ask that facilities be offered bv the Government to officers and men of returned contingents to secure land for settlement in the colony. It was represented to the Minister that some modification is desirable of the conditions under which, in accordance with the provisions of "The Land Act, 1892,"blocks of rural land, may be set apart for special settlement. The law prescribes that no person shall be capable of holding more than 320 acres within a special settlement except in the case of swamp lands, when the area may be increased to 500 acres- that the price shall not be less than 10s pen- acre, and the rental on lease in perpetuity not less than 4 per cent, on such price; and that the holder shall conform to the conditions respecting residence, occupation, and permanent improvements with which every selector, of Crown land under a leasing tenure must comply. The members of returned contingents who. are interesting themselves in the matter of obtaining land for themselves and others of their number who are desirous of establishing homes for themselves in I the country to which they belong indi- ■ cated that it might be necessary, in | order to induce them to remain in the .' colony, that more liberal terms should j be offered them than the Laad Act i authorisey. Notably, they would like j the a.rea that may be hold by any ! individual increased, and, in common with : every person who enters upon the occupation of land for the purpo&e of cultivating and improving it, they would like to possess the option of converting their tenure from leasehold into a freehold. It is specially important, too, they consider, that there should be no delay in obtaining the facilities they desire for settling in tlris 'colony, for they fear that, by waiting on in New Zealand with no definite arrangement .with the Government whereby they may obtain land here, they might • sacrifice their chances cff

obtaining land in. South Africa under the terms upon which it is to be made available to discharged soldiers. Those terms are of a distinctly generous character, but it is possible that a note of warning may advantageously be sounded regarding them. The members of New Zealand contingent 3 who return to South Africa to settle on the land there muet not bo disappointed if all the expectations that may bo raised by Lieutenant Lorrigan's catalogue of tho inducement* the Imperial Government k offering them to take up farms in the new colonies should not be realised. The scheme of land settlement in the Transvaal, as it is set out in a pamphlet that was issued from the Government Printing Works at Pretoria three months ago, is to form small colonies of 20 to 30 men each, each colony containing a mixture of persons of South African experience, who should provide tho necessary local knowledge, of settlers from Great Britain, and of settlers from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The type of settlement will vary according to the nature of the different districts. In some, each settler will have a holding of good irrigated land for tillage, and the grazing ground will be held in common: in others, each settler will have a holding of mixed tillage and grazing ground; in others, again", the holdings will be larger and devoted chiefly to grazing, crops being grown only for home consumption. The terms of settlement are thus sketched in outline: "There will be two forms of tenure—leasehold and purchase by instalments. The settlor may hold his land on a lease, renewable for a certain period at his option, the rent of which will be calculated at 5 per cent, of the valuation price. Leaseholders will be allowed, on giving due notice, to change their leasehold into a system of purchase by instalments. Under this, latter system the settler will acquire the freehold of his land by half-yearly payments spread over 30 yeai's, calculated at the valuation price of his land, plus 4 per cent. The Government' is prepared to advance half the working capital on the pound for pound system at 5 per cent, up to a certain amount.' He will be allowed, after five years, to acquire the freehold outright, subject to certain conditions, if he so desires it. The Government is prepared to advance him loans for certain purposes at 5 per cent, during his tenure." Lieutenant Lorrigan made various statements regarding the intention of the Imperial Government to provide transport, farming utensils, harness, arms, rations, and tents free of charge for specified periods. The particular authority upon which he relied in enumerating these concessions was not mentioned by him. What the official publication from which we quoted says on this point is comprised in a couple of sentences: " Special' facilities for transit will be given on railway lines to the produce of the settlements, and artificial manures, seeds, stock, implements, etc., will be supplied to the settlers on special terms." But if we assume that there was absolute authority for all that Lieutenant Lorrigan said relative to the inducements that are being offered in the now colonies to oversea colonial soldiers to settle there, it must not be imagined for a moment by returned troopers in New Zealand that, if they return to South Africa within next few weeks and are consequently enabled to avail themselves of "indulgence" rates, they will immediately upon their arrival there find faring at their disposal. The Government in. the Transvaal is inundated at the present time with applications for land, but 90 far it has, for sufficient reasons, been unable to make very much progress with the settlement of the country. "It is, absolutely necessary first of all to discover and survey the most! suitable land," the Pretoria correspondent of The Times wrote on the 4th August, "before bringing into the country a number of men who will find that the expenses of living while they are waiting for their farms will eat up a good portion of their capital." And the men who are already in. the new colonies are, as our correspondent at Johannesburg has informed us, finding that several months are likely to elapse before the)'' can. expect to become settled on the farms they desired to obtain, and the consequence is that many members of our contingents who had waited over with the view of entering upon fanning pursuits are returning in disgust to New Zealand. Under the circumstances the departure for South Africa, in the immediate future, of the returned troopers who wei'e represented at the deputation to the Minister of Lands on Monday would plainly be unwise. But if New Zealand hopes to retain them the Government must recognise the necessity of promptly placing before them facilities in the way of their obtaining land. The Minister of Lands, while professing sympathy with the objects of the deputation that waited upon him, raised difficulties in respect to every suggestion that was made, to him regarding the provision of blocks of land in the North Island. The difficulties he mentioned are, however, not insuperable, and it will be generally hoped that his promise on behalf of the Government to do what can be done to meet the wishes of the deputation will be liberally fulfilled. New Zealand cannot afford to lose her population even for so patriotic a purpose as the establishment of a majority of British electors in the new colonies.