The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, JULY 10, 1894 LAND SETTLEMENT.

Opunake Times, Volume I, Issue 3, 10 July 1894, Page 2

The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, JULY 10, 1894 LAND SETTLEMENT.

Each successive Government make the settlement of the people on the land a cardinal point in their policy, and have the customary amount of " blow" over their explo'ts in this direction during their tenure of office. So that there can be no mistake about what each Government do in this respect, very voluminous returns are presented to Parliament each year showing the number of bona fide settlers who have been placed during the preceding 12 mouths. These returns, as far as we have seen, have generally been shown to be of a very progressive nature, -the last return showing a larger number planted than appeared in its predecessor. We venture to say that if anyone took up the returns of the last sixteen years, and totalled up the number who have been settled on the laud during that time, it would cause him to at once lose faith in the Registrar-General's census'returns and estimate of the population of the colony. If one went to seek for these bona /hie settlers, the chance of finding them would be about equal to that of discerning the hidden card in the three-card trick as worked by a " speiler" on a racecourse. The Government appear to be as dexterous in the manipulation of thesa returns as the said gent is with the cards, aud onlookers may treat the returns in. much the same manner, viz., very interesting to watch, but do not put your money on thtir veracity. Why is each Government so anxious to be looked on as endeavouring to do its utmost in placing people on the land ? The answer usually admitted is because all wealth comes from the land, and by inducing people to undertake its cultivation they are thus fostering the great wealth-producing- industry of the colony. This answer is quite in accord with our ideas pn. the matter,; and lej&j to the consideration of how the Government carry out the object in view. It is a very easy matter to get people to take up land, so long as there is a very small capital required to start with, and consequently by making land laws which are called liberal, enabling people to take up sections at a nominal outlay, there are sure to be plenty of applications, and the Government receiving such applications may take to themselves the civdit of placing that number of settlers on the land. This, however, we look on as simply bogus settlement. True eeltlemeut is where men are induced to take up land under circumstances which will enable them to profitably occupy it. In to do this, they must either have sufficient capital to enable them to make it productive, or they must be so placed that their labour, which is capital of the sterling kind, can bo utilised by them to procure a living, whilst they are carving out a home for themselves in the wilds. They require roads, so that they can be placed on a footing of equality with other parts of the colony, and not, as in many instances, have to pay nearly as much for carriage of bulky goods as the goods originally cost. They must have means of schooling their children, and the other necessaries of civilisation, placed within reach. To induce men to tako

up bush lands under arbitrary conditions, get them to put the few pounds they possess into it, which may represent the savings of years, and then, for want of roads, virtually drive them off the land, is not, to our way of thinking encouraging true settlement. In some parts of ouiTdistrict settlers are for part of the year as much almost as if "they were in gaol. In case of sickness, they cannot get medical assistance except at a prohibitory cost, and in a few instances we know of, corpses have had to be buried on the farms, as it was impossible to get out during the winter months. Then they have the Government regulations to contend with as to improvements under pain of forfeiture. In our opinion', no forfeiture by the Land Board should be made without first obtaining the opinion of the local body—Road Board or County Council, as the case may be —where the section in question is situated. If application is made to the Government for a grant to aid in the erection of a bridge or construction of a road, the reply is usually—no funds, and the settlers, who are already overburdened with taxes, special rates, calls for improvements, &c, arejcoolly informed that they can borrow money under the Loans to Local Bodies Act. Why are country communities so treated ? Because they do not unite and make their vote and interest felt. How different do we find it in towns. Take, for instauce, the Colonial Treasurer at Oamarn a few weeks since. The people there wanted assistance for a water race, which is, we presume, a necessary work, but in addition to this they want a deck tower, which is estimated to cost £750. They also have a receiver in charge, which apparently they did not want. The Treasurer ,advised them to consider whether it would not be more advantageous to spend the clock tower money on the water race, as if so they would have £ISOO for the latter work, which the Government would give them. There is no suggestion there that the Local Bodies Loan Act is in force, and, if it were suggested, the chances are a hundred to one that they would find that they could do without tho clock tower. Here we have a number of struggling settlers on the Eltham Road, which to all intents and purposes is impassable, whom the Government, promised—verbally—to assist by making the road siuce, but never carried out the promise, and the settlers have to turn round and rate themselves 2d in the £ in order to be able to occupy their land at all. Take, again, the Ihaia Road. There are fifteen struggling settlers on that road-at present, gaining their living by dairying. They do not want a clock tower, but they sadly need a road. At present their means of living is cut off, a 3 they crnnot reach the dairy factory, the road being iuipasrable; and elo the Government make any provision for assisting them ? Yes ! They.cau borrow £6OO under the Government Loan Act, and pay 2d in the £ rates for it. Which of these two works-a clock tower costing £750 at Oamaru, or £6OO spent on a road to enable fiflee:i settleis to profitably occupy between two and three thousand acres of land—will aid most in augmenting the wealth and prosperity of the country ? With such facts as these before us, what else c:rn we call so-called Government solicitude for the progress of settlement but cant and hypocrisy.