Our Wellington Letter.

Opunake Times, Volume IX, Issue 412, 23 August 1898, Page 3

Our Wellington Letter.

Wellington, August. 16, thl lands report When travelling the count y vociferating their high aims and slat smanlike deeds, tiie leading ae ors of the Ministerial troupe alway make the Lands Department their sheetanchor when their narratives of the vile tactics of the National Association and the corruption of the Conservatives when in power fall flat. They bawl nut, “ Look how we have settled the people on the land. In those dark day* we have rescued you from, there were only five ways by which land could be taken up. Now the people have the choice of 16 different tenures. Then it was only people with money or experience or self-reliance who made homes for themselves. We have taken people without a shilling, and who didn’t know whether potatoes grew on trees, or which end of an axe to hold, and put them on farms. In those times roads were made by contractors and middlemen, who paid mere wages and pocketed the profits. Now all that sort of work is done by co-operative contractors, who not only gat the wages but the profits into the bargain.” This or something like it is what is cheered by the camp followers of the cities. The Lands Eeport of this year tells us a good deal of the real state of things in as optimistic style as is possible under the circumstances ; but there is a great deal that is not mentioned, the absence of which may be attributed to the strong objection of the Minister controlling the department to supplying the Opposition with ammunition to use against him and his colleagues. forfeitures and surrenders. Leaving out pastoral runs the following table gives the number of selectors and acreage of lands during the term of the present Ministry : New Business Forfeitures & Surrenders.

That is to say over 22 per cent, of the selectors have thrown up over 26 per cent of the selected lands. No one but those who have experienced the hardships and discomforts of a bush life in tents for one season in the North Island can realise what it means. Cold, pitiless type is not equal to the task of description. The present writer experienced one winter in a Taranaki back block, and although an old West Coaster, he found it enough and to spare. There are compensations in a mining camp not to pbe found where bush-whacking is the only occupation. As one man said, after ten days of rain and snow, “ Another week of this and my blood would be turned to buttermilk,” but he had no experience except as a cowspanker. The bushfeller, however, is better off than the Crown tenant, inasmuch as that he is not tied to the soil. What volumes of misery will never be written of the broken spirits, the arduous trudging through quagmires with provisions and tools, the struggles to meet the inexorable demands of the most exacting landlord on the globe, the hope against hope for a road or bridge, and the bitter end of it all in forfeiture or more merciful death. And when one comes to realise that 3727 settlers and their families have gone through these trials, and that others have not yet reached the climax, one can only imagine that Satan himself could describe the system as “ successful settlement.”- It is the unconscious satire of men who do not know satire when they speak it. Year by year have promises been pledged of roads to be made and rivers to be bridged. The tenants have paid for these in increased rents, specially charged for the purpose, and still they wearily tramp with pack on back, cursing the day when they took the words of a Liberal Minister to mean what it implied. But however wild a promise, there comes an hour for the redemption of all 1.0.U.'5. The redemption of Ministerial pledges *will come to jpass when their victims get to the iballot-box. The Lands Department is pretty well a go-as-you-please affair as far as spending money is concerned. Parliament has very little to do with that part of the business. Mr John McKenzie is considered—by the majority —to be so accomplished as an administrator that he is voted whatever he asks for, and inquisitive members who desire information are promptly snubbed—it being considered improper in the Liberal camp to say or do anything calculated to give offence to so great a man. The expenditure by this irresponsible branch of State was £587,421 for last year, as against £711,660 for the previous year, there having been less spent in purchasing estates by £154,646 last year. This will probably be claimed as a saviug. Settlement roads, bridges and other works, £243,304, is the largest item of expenditure. It embraces the joint efforts of the head office in Wellington, the swarms of engineers, inspectors and overseers, and the co-operative contractors. It is all borrowed money, so the spending of it must bo considered in the light that Shakespeare described the quality of mercy : “ It blesses him that gives and him that takes.” Providing we assume the first “ him,” the giver refers to the Hon. John. The “ him ” who takes, if he be a lucky dog of an inspector, is doubly blessed in the receipt of a salary out of all proportion with his knowledge, and in the importance of his position as keeper of the political consciences of the “ contractors ’’under him who are permitted to earn from 2s 8d per day upwards, according to their merits as canvassers and

barracktrs first, and their expertnoss or industry with axe or shovel next.

A comparison with the pre-ions year’s statement, discloses a remarkable change in the method of classifying the expenditure. For the year endiug March 31st, 1897, the following items were given in the return : Main roads vote .. .. 4.289 Miscellaneous roads and bridges 11,195 Local bodies vote .. .. 152 Thermal Springs vote.. .. 16.026 Land improvement .. .. 108,-130 Native land purchase .. .. 38,950 179,042 In place of these six heads there is the one item, “ Settlement Roads, Bridges, and other works, £213,804.” This comprehensive way of explaining how nearly a quarter of a million sterling had been spent would have been impossible if Mr Seddon had not engineered a clause into the Appropriation Act last year removing the earmarks from loan money specially borrowed for land improvement and native land purchase accounts, and then denied that there was anything in appropriation out of the usual. Ho wanted money for public works, and by this dodge transferred £231,795 to another account. So that if there had been any native land purchases, (as there must have been) there is nothing to show in the report. They are mixed up with roads, thermal springs, and the rest of it. This is book-keeping with a vengeance. Then we come to Cheviot —the white flower of a blameless administration. It is shown in the statement to have paid £8866, and for roads and bridges £3274 ; the rents and sales of land being £15,362, and the capital cost was reduced by £3OOO, This, says the statement, gave a return of 6£ per cent on the sum invested. But on another page there is further charge of £12,869, presumably for main roads, not mentioned in the Cheviot account. If this were added to the other expenditure it would stand at £27,276, as as against total receipts £16,407, and the per cent would be found on the other side of the profit and loss account. Book-keeping is a fine art, but when it is also an occult om, faith in figures is apt to evaporate, especially official figures.

The next noticeable item is strong evidence of the results of what Ministers facetiously call “ encouraging mining.” In 1897 2706 leases were taken up; in 1898, 571. The survey fees paid by the lessees were respectively £56,579 and £8429. The advantages of having a Premier with “ expert mining knowledge” is so apparent that it requires no comments. But it ,will take a dozen letters to fully criticize this tremendous report.

Number, Acreage. Number. Acreage, 1891— 1881 512,633 200 50,502 1892— 1953 529,718 240 62,572 1893— 2576 544,142 201 50,082 1894— 2449 667,961 236 106,145 1895— 1988 398,489 392 134,198 1896- 2435 358,232 938 226,132 1897— 1676 305.155 816 228,291 1898— 1925 460,648 704 130,580 T’t’ls 16,883 3,776,978 3,727 988,502