THE Dunedin, Saturday, June 8, 1861.

Otago Witness, Issue 497, 8 June 1861, Page 5

THE Dunedin, Saturday, June 8, 1861.

Oh ! Oh ! So the murder's out and the end and aim of Separation is disclosed by the resolutions which Dr. Menzies intends to propose to the Provincial Council as the basis of the land regulations of Southland. Southland may. ?b§ synonymous with Menzies' mania, aiid at least we must admit that the Doctor shows " some method in his madness." Unless, however, our Southern friends are very much under the influence of the luminary which rules the tides, we doubt if much of the mania in its last stage will meet with support at the hands of the electors. It would be difficult •to find any epithet in the English language by which to characterise the monstrous nature of the proposed scheme. Robbery, spoliation, division of plunder, or any such words, are too weak to convey anything like an adequate idea of the wrong proposed to be perpetrated under pretence of legislating to promote the colonization of Southland. We thought that the views put forward by "Equity," and •'Sheepshears," during our late political contest, had gone tke extreme length which any sane man could go in proposing a preemptive right by one class of the community over the public lands of 1000 acres. Indeed, so much was this the general view of the matter, that it was suggested that the claim had been set up by enemies to damage the runholders, and tbat tbe proposition was too monstrous to be sincerely advocated by any body of men. Doctor Menzies has given us an insight -into human nature, from which we may learn that no proposition i 3 too unjust to be made if tbere but seems a probability of its succeeding. But, let us turn to the resolutions winch will be found in another part of our present issue. When read by the light of the accompanying letter of the Doctor's, they are certainly instructive. By Clause 3, it is proposed, as a general rule, that no unsurveyed land shall be sold,

and as there is to he but a single Commissioner, and apparently no publicity, the rule is to be departed from, or adhered to, as he shall " see fit." And no matter what his decision may be, he is sure to be accused of partiality and injustice. Convenient, certainly. 4. " Lands may be set apart for special occupation." Pethaps a very necessary provision, if the rest of the resolutions are to become law, but we warn the Southland settlors to beware of these pretended favours. Far better for all to stand on an equal footing, and have no distinction of class in the right of selecting land. This huddling together of labouring men on small farms in a given locality, without capitalists, or richer men to employ them, is one of the most mischievous plans which can possibly be adopted. It has been tried at Wellington, and has signally failed. As long as the Government found work in the neighbourhood of their lands, the men fared well enough ; but, immediately that failed, they had either to leave their houses and plots of land to mix with the general community to find employment, or grub away at a few acres and live upon potatoes and salt. All the benefits derivable from a man of limited means replenishing bis capital by occasionally woiking for his richer neighbour, would be done away with by this special occupation, or small farm : system, as it was called in Wellington. And in Auckland,-. where.it was " also tried and where it combined the plan of deferred payments, it was a fruitful source of landsharking, — and from the highest to the lowest the community speculated in applications for rural occupation land, so that the 'poor' man,' for whose benefit, of course, the scheme was devised, 1 ' got none, or very little, of the land. "5. Country lands to be examined by special commissioners, and divided into agricultural and pastoral." Impossible; room for jobbing, though, and that's convenient sometimes. The question whether land is or is not fit for agriculture, depends upon other matters than the mere nature of the land. That which from its locality was only fit for pasture, might in a few years be available for agriculture. Witness what has occurred near Dunedin : land which thirteen years since men would not have accepted as a gift if compelled to cultivate it, is now under crop, and is of great value. This part of the Menzies Scheme is almost as good as the suggestion once made in Otago, that all the sections should be valued and a fixed price put upon them, so that the country would have presented the appearance of a cheap linendraper's shop : — all these fine sections at 10s. 6d. ; very cheap — 9s. 4d. ; must be sold — 135.; awful sacrifice! — only £1 Is.; and so on. Clause 7, " After proclamation, land to be open to free selection." Very free, certainly, seeing what follows. The rest of the clauses may be treated as a whole : agricultural land to be sold at £1 per acre ; pastoral at 10s. ; the runholder to have a pre-emptive right over 500 acres of the agricultural land in his run, and a further pre-emptive right not exceeding 5000 acres — only five thousand acres — in not more than two blocks. There is to be a slight accommodation of three months, but whether the Government is to take a bill is not stated. After this little matter has been arranged, there is to be free selection ; and you and 1, Tompkins, may indulge in the purchase of the fag-end of a run if we like, but we are not then to have possession of the land — we are to wait the termination of the license, " in the same way that an estate would be bought in Britain subject to tha farmer's lease." Land is cheap at ten shillings an acre, but perhaps not after ten per cent, of the best of it has been picked out. We are not to get possession for fourteen years, but I presume, " as in Britain," we are to draw the rent. Let's see, we buy ten thousand acres, that will cost us £5000. We shall draw, per annum, one pound for every thousand acres. Are we quite sure 1 Oh, yes, that's provided for by clause 19. Well, that will be £10 per annum. Good interest upon £5000, especially for a rising colony. Magnificent investment is it not, Tompkins — I think we will defer that speculation. We had better buy the license, for it appears that this light of free selection is not worth much to any one but the runholder. A fine Province for the newly-arrived immigrant, Southland — very. When a man does do a thing, we like him to do it effectually, and the Doctor has done it completely. There is only one point upon which we would suggest an amendment. " Let us start fair." An old story is told of days gone by when the world was not so squeamish as it is now, — when wrecking on the coast of Cornwall was a rather respectable thing, — it happened one Sunday morning that the reyerend incumbent of the parish whilst deep in an eloquent discourse on the merits of works, lifted up his eyes and discovered his congregation evaporating. There was a wreck ashore. "Stop! stop!" cried the rev. gentleman, " till I get my surplice off; " let's all start fair." We commend this anecdote to the especial attention of Dr. Menzies. His proposition to divide the Crown lands is well enough, but those gentlemen who have got runs in Southland, should throw them up. " Let's all start fair." We deeply sympathize with Dr. Menzies. That he should be shut out of Southland was bad enough, and then to have such a name given to his bantling. Murihiku charmed us until, unfortunately, our learned little contemporary knocked all the romance out of the affair by explaining that Murihiku, (or Murehykoo, as it is sometimes pronounced), when translated, was " the last joint of the tail." Oh ! Dear. But, as Shakespeare says, —

" What's in a name ?

The rose by any other name would amell as sweet." and Southland is, perhaps, after all, better than Tailend. We fear we shall have to still further sympathize with the Southland Superintendent on his failure in these resolutions. We very much doubt their being carried, unless the character of the Southland Provincial Council is very different from what we expect if to be. Indeed, unless it much resembles that celebrated council renowned in British history as the " Rump Parliament," — a comparison which, under all the circumstances, will be singularly appropriate. i But, to be serious, is not the proposition of such an administration of the Waste Lands of the Crown, as is shown by the publication of these resolutions by a gen-, tleman who assumes to be a leader of the New Province, the severest comment upon the New Provinces Act ?

We will not for a moment assume that it is likely that such a selfish attempt at the division of the public estate will succeed, but it is evident that such an event is possible. It is exceedingly dangerous to trust very small communities with large legislative powera. There ir ay bo men fit to lead, — we hope such will be the case in the south, — and that the occasion will bring forth men who will appreciate the necessity of administering the powers committed to their hands as a trust not to be violated on any account. Those who opposed tbe granting to the colonies the power of legislating upon the administration of Crown Lands, did so on the ground that the colonists would not appreciate the fact that thovse lands were the estate of the British public, — the administration of which was intrusted to the colonists not only for their benefit, but for the benefit of all who might come after them, — of every immigrant who might seek a home in the colony, — consequently for years the price of land was fixed by the home Government, and the Governor was bound to expend onehalf of the proceeds of the sale of Crown Lands on immigration. Most of the older settlements have fulfilled this obligation, but in some the public estate has been shamefully wasted. At Nelson the fatal error was made of parting with the estate at ss. per acre, and recently resolutions to amend the regulations have been passed, with the object of preserving the remainder. All the Provinces created under the New Provinces Act have sought to obtain an immediate revenue, and have consequently all made the same fatal error of wasting the public estate. Let the South take warning in time, and not only not waste the public estate by selling it at a low price, but also avoid throwing any obstacle in the way of immigrants arriving in the colony. Give, to all, lands upon equal terms : any other proceeding will deter persons from settling, and let it be borne in mind that population, especially in a new country, is the source of wealth. Southland starts with many advantages, — it has plenty of good land, and the paternal Government of Otago, so much sneered at, took care to avoid the errors committed in the older Province of letting the Crown Lands even to the sea-board. It threw back the runs at the sacrifice of present revenue for future advantages. Six hundred thousand acres of land were proclaimed Hundreds, of which a mere trifle has been sold, and the squatting and agricultural interests need not conflict for many years. In proportion to its size it contains more available land than any Province in New Zealand. It has, in fact, no barren or useless country, and if its settlers are only industrious — avoid being led away by interested men — legislate not for class interest, and promote immigration to the utmost of their power, there need be no fear of the result.