Otago Witness THE WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE 'SOUTHERM MERCURY. SATURDAY, 28th APRIL, 1888.

Otago Witness, Issue 1640, 28 April 1883, Page 17

Otago Witness THE WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE 'SOUTHERM MERCURY. SATURDAY, 28th APRIL, 1888.

The favourite panacea advocated by would-be political economists for improving the social and financial pod* don of the working classes, and ensuring independence to every man 'who hat the grit in him to work, is the festftb> lishment in New Zealand of a peasant proprietorship on an extensive scala. This, as we have on previous occaaioiiß pointed out, is in some degree provided for under the village settlement arid the homestead systems. The' lattery however, ia only in. force in Auckland and Westland. There is land open under the former, as may be ascertained by reference to the " Grown Lahdl Guide," in every Provincial District with, we think, the single exception 1 &£ Wellington ; but up to the present timiot the class for whom it was especially designed do not appear to have been attracted by the very liberal termi upon which allotments may be takea up. The fact is, we may rappowv that when the question of settling on a few • acres, more or 1 ' l«si, '~al \ land comes to be practically considered I by a labouring man, the .difficult** ! stare him in the face of making a living off it, or even supplementing Kii'JftttU* nary earnings.. However small. thj plot, capital is required for occupation and cultivation ; whilst in the 1 oaso of virgin soil, however excellent fx quality, no returns worth calculating' I dan be reasonably expected for at least' two years. In the Old Country, wherf ' people are not yet gone demehtecP'e*. land nationalisation/ the " magic ' of property " is a phrase often on the lips of a certain class of land reformer?. Make a man, they say, the owner it k little plot of ground, and he become* twice a man. He has a g£ak« in the commonwealth ; he beeomeft, diligent and thrifty in his habits, and ends by being prosperous and happy. The magio of property hag its charms also, without doubt, in thii Colony, and is an active force in inducing the acquirement of small freehold*, This is a factor which must be takem into consideration in determining tht best method of the disposal of Orowa ' lands ; and those who, like Mr M. W. Green, believe in the whole population sitting under their own vines and fig trees, but who at the same time object' altogether to freeholds, may find themselves possibly in a dilemma from whick extrication is not easy. It is not, however, oar present object to ' discuss ' th«. abstract question of land tenure, bufc to make a few remarks respecting peasant proprietorship. The pleasa'nti little picture we have sketched above as to the results of th»' system is, unhappily, only a fancy sketclf : the corresponding reality has been sought in vain. People who know little or nothing of France have supposed it was to be found in the condition of the French • peasant proprietors* This notion was somewhat rudely shaken by the publication recently; in one of th« monthly reviews, of two remarkable articles from the pen of Lady Vernkt. The French peasant farmer was there depicted as he really is— a ' miserable being, who works 18 or 20 hours out of the 24, knows nothing of the comforts of life, and is the inferior in every sensed moral and material — of tho poorest. English agricultural labourer. The illusion is not confined to foreigners Even Frenchmen, born and bred in the towns, are accustomed 16 look upoa saving money enough to buy a amaji farm, and retiring to cultivate it, as (she sumnmm honuin of existence. The great novelist, M. Balzac, m "Les Paysans," gives a graphic description of the disenchantment which awaits them, and of French country life under jfome* what favourable circumstances ; aad we commend the perusal of this interesting book — which, we believe, can be obtained in Dunedin^-to those who are impressed with the idea that the French system is a success as regards the occupants of the land.

This is fiction, it may be said ; bub the truth is as striking as the, fiction, if ofljcial testimony is of any value. & great deal of this is brought to" bear in, tho report of Mr H. W. Jenkins, the assistant commissioner for France and Belgium, to the Jtoyal Commission 01* Agriculture appoiuted byiher [Majesty in J879. The sma li landed proprietary

.may > be described, he states, almost .literally as a body of pauper landlords. Eight millions are registered as, paupers, and excused from paying; taxes. " This," remarks Mr Jenkins,' , " is a condition which may appear incredible to those who discuss peasant, proprietorship from a theoretical and «i priori point of view ; but it will not' surprise those who have mixed much with the struggling people, have learned what Sacrifices they have made, and •what straits they are continually in, for the sole purpose either of retaining or of augmenting their property." The money-lender is the real master of rural France : the mortgage debt on French peasant properties reaches the astounding sum of j£480,000,000 sterling, which is onesixth ot the estimated value of the land. The average rate of interest, when the costs of advances are taken into account, is as high as 7 per cent., and the yearly payments aggregate £34,000,000. Nearly half the estates ba which this prodigious annual charge ia paid are worth no more than four shillings apiece per year ! How this infinitesimal division of . land has come about is easily understood. When a landed proprietor die?, each of hia jphildren is entitled to share in the family, estate. As a rule, each asserts his*/; rjght, and the consequence is a continued parcelling out till at last no cultivation, is possible except with a spgkde, and in some cases, Mr Jenkins remarks, -it must, not be a full-sized •jjadfl, .^Qften, too, a man must not plant i_tree.on. his, own estate, because it in illegal :to plant within two yards of your neighbour's boundary, and a Bpot eannpt. be found which is not within that distance. In many districts, saya lsr Jbnkins. not one-third of the land can be, reached without going over (actpallytreßpasaing upon) other, plots, and he mentions the suggestive fact that tliis ever-growing, division of land b^aa even affected the French language, formerly the division used to be, called Piorcellement, it now bears tji© rexprepsiye name of pulverisation. There, are, no doubt, well to-do farmers ig Normandy and Brittany, to which provinces Mr Jenkins' report is largely cforoted;. but the majority of small owners even there are not prosperous. It is a struggle for life with them, and a hj&rcl struggle very ofcen. Mr JenKINS mentions the case of one man from the condition of a sinal! to that of a large farmer. Such cases, he says, do occur, but very, seldom. This wan began with a capital o£i> £600 ; if he had begun as a peasant proprietor, it is his own opinion that he " would have been stereotyped." He devoted a good deal of his savings to the purchase of land, but always took care to have money oat at interest in some other investment, and to this precaution he attributed his success. ;There is at present no danger in this Colony of such extreme subdivision as that to which we have referred. It must, however, be remembered that we are remote from the markets of the Old World, and that our own local markets are very limited. Before we adopt peasant proprietorship, then, it is well carefully to, consider what is the least area on which a man can live and bring up his family in reasonable comfort. We are inclined to think that the time is almost ripe for a careful inquiry into the actual effects of large and small holdings, and different forms of tenure, within the Colony, and Parliament may well direct its attention to the question of how best to elicit this information, before adopting any new theories with regard to the nationalisation of the land, or extending the application of the deferred-payment and perpetual leasing systems now in force in certain districts.

s?he Tepairs to the Upper Waitaki bridge were .completed on Monday, and on Tuesday (says tlie Oamaru Times) the Railway Depart merit' s ß«nt' a- special train to bring down to O&m'arn'the' grain stored on the Hakateramea side. "< Now that traffic has been resumed, there* will 'doubtless be an effort made to get all the gTainJacroßs" aa early as possible, rs the repairs, are .only temporary, and are not expected to withstand a heavy Waitaki flood. the perpetrator of a robbery under peculiarly heartless circumstances was somewhat inadequately punished at the Auckland Police Court, .recently, by a sentence of a month's imprisonment with hard labour. The prosecutor, William Coa, while returning from the Wynyard Pier to his home in Parnell, on the night of the sth int?t., took a short cut across the railway-line. In doing so, he unfortunately fell across the rails and broke several rib 3. The prisoner, Patrick Conroy, came along with two companions, and was accosted by Mr Coa, who requested assistance. He directed Conroy to untie his neckcloth and tie it round his ribs. Conroy said he must take off Coa's coat to do bo. Mr Coa assenting, the prisoner took off hia coat, and then diveßting himself of Ma own, threw it down, and put on that which he had taken off Mr Coa. He then coolly wished the Buffering man " Good night," and walked off with his companions. When arrested by Constable M'Lellan, the scoundrel was actually wearing the stolen coat.