TIIE NON-CONFORMIST SETTLEMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 570, 1 November 1862, Page 3

TIIE NON-CONFORMIST SETTLEMENT.

(From the Otaoo Daily Timks, Oct 29.) ONKofthe members of the Xou-Couibrmist Settlement called on us ycscertla}-, and his statement fully bear* out the cmclusiotib that on theoretical grounds v,-e had arrived at. The organisation of tho society was unsound in principle, and its falling to pieces was a natural consequence. The absence of capital amongbt the members was discovered before the ship, by which our informant came was out many days. The minister to the principal capitalist, and next to him the prntleman who had organised the affair, aud who, the settlers discovered, had not had hn trouble for nothing. The preliminary expenses, such as printing and an office, he had defrayed, but in return he received a registration fee of 10s. for all members registered before last Cnristnvis, and ol" 20s. for those registered after that date, lie had beside?, as :<]migiation Officer, the land order fee, of 10s. per member,— and it was supposed that he received the usual commission that charterers pay to passenger agents, say from XI to £-2 per passenger. At any rate, tin* pa^ge money was high, and the owners could afford it. We are not blaming this gentleman ; he underwent the iisk of the speculation paying him, and in return reaped its profits. Ho\v° ever, the knowledge that the affair, whilst yet doubtful to the participators, was profitable to the promoters was not likely to add to the confidence of those embarked in it, especially when they observed the lamentable deficiency of capital amongst them. Arrived in Auckland, they began to see their mistake. Some of the laborers obtained work at 12s. a day. What inducement had they to go on the settlement? Many others who saw profitable openings offering to them, at once determined to stay behind, whilst others, again, were deterred by the total want of preparation that, on arriving at Auckland, they found was to await them on their arrival at their destination. Even to arrive there was no easy matter. Xo means had been provided. By the kindness jf the Commissariat they procured two or three teams but the road was only partially marked out ; part of it had to be done by 'canoes; part of it required scrambling through thick bush. Properly they should have gone round to the Kiapara Harbor by water, but there was no means provided; they had to endeavor to scramble across country. They took a month's provisions with them, and for the rest had to place reliance on stores sent up by speculators, or on pigs and fish obtained from the Maories. It is difficult to over-estimate the forlornness of the picture. We have to fancy the vast majority destitute of means, a few with enough to keep themselves say for three or four months, and few indeed vi ith sufficient to enable them to invest in reproductive works. And what was the prospect before them? The tillage of the ground, with its laboured and protracted result* ; — and, meanwhile, to subsist almost as the Maories do, on the pigs and game of the primeval forests, and on the fish of the river. They found, too, that the party was not own to ho r.lto^cthor, the blocks given them by the Government were fifteen miles apart. Some of these poor souls will, no doubt, have energy and perseverance sufficient to carry them through, ;md perchance, as prosperous settlers may laugh ot their early trials But the same endurance, the same perseveraffcc, in the settled districts, would probably lead them to an equal amount of succe^ in a fraction of the time. Our informant tells us that the ambition of the promoter of the Association, was to found a new province. He must know little of Auckland politics, if he fancied that encouragement would be given him up to a point winch would enable him to secure this result. The Aucklanders would favor Albert Laud as an out settlement, but would take good care it did not attain to the dimensions of a province. Indeed the New Native Land Bill, which has sounded the knell of the free grant system, will put a stop to the extension of the' NonConformist settlement. This result we fancy at any rate is not to be lamented, however the new system may work in another direction.