Government Measures.

Otago Witness, Issue 1952, 23 July 1891, Page 12

Government Measures.

TO THE BDITOB.

Sib,— Recently an article appeared in yaur columns under the above heading, purporting to be an outline of Government measures and a protest against the Village Settlement Act. The writer seemingly iB under the impresnion that large estates are necessary to the prosperity of the colony, and that small lots are a crying evil. The case of Ireland is oited to prove that men of.some experience have written derogatory of the small cultivators, and that peatant proprietary in land is an unmixed evil. The want of individual industry in some caies mult not be taken ai a criterion to gauge all ownership in small farmß by. Some small farmers are prosperous when careful attention is given to the details of their calling, while some are certain to fail, and would fail in any calling of life, not from any fault of the system, but from sheer inability to accommodate themselves to the conditions of their lU'roundingß. I taka it that our Village Settlement Act is a most useful measure, and should not be tampered with except in the direction of amending or improving It. The rapid progress of the age has considerably altered many of our old social customs. The ideas of our forefathers on questions of social economics are considerably changed, and in some rospeots for the worse. To uphold my contentions that the Village Settlement Act U a useful and necessary measure, and that large estates are not absolutely an advantage to our community, I have only to oite the altered conditions of France since the partition of the toil into small areas. Holland and Switzerland, as well as some of the Low Countries, are in a much altered condition under their present land tenure than they were under the feudal system— analogous to our station system of land tenure. It is not the Village Settlement Aot that is at fault, but the ideas of life that have grown with the age that make our laud laws «o unreliable. A small farmer is not now oontent if he is only making a liviDg. He wants more than a living ; and therefore if he can only manage to feed and clothe his family, just keepiog his head commercially above water, he will cry out that his calling is a failure andthat the land lystem under which be lives is a bad one. A century or so ago man knew of none of theluxuries of to-day, and providing he could secure the necessaries of life he was quite satisfied and wasoontent to eat grapes under his own vine. A change ' has come over all this, however, and man nowadaysdesires to! bask in the sunshine of other lands and consume the choicest luxuries of every clime. The greater portion of New Zealand is capable of producing the necessaries of life in a remarkable degree, and man can live in almost every portion in fair comfort if he is willing to work, and a man working six months in the year on a 20-acre farm can grow more than enough of the necessaries of life to keep hinuelf and family. Surely when this is the case, by working another six months be can produce sufficient to keep himself and family in clothing. Some people never sow, but expect to reap a rich harvest from the labour of others. Potatoes are, and have been for many decades, the staple food of that Ireland we hear of so much to-day ; and where, I would ask, can a finer race of men and women be found than la the Green Isle ? Now, potatoes thrive well In this colony, and could be raiaed in almost any of the various village 'settlements that have been established. Oats are another form of food that is highly suited for human consumption, and could' with much profit be used in every family. Oats can be grown in large quantities in New Zealand, and quite sufficient could be produced on a 20-acre farm to keep the members of one family the entire year. A cow or two could turely be kept on the spare land, and they would be capable of supplying butter and milk, with a few pounds of the former to spare at times'. The following would be a fair course of cultivation to pursue on a 20 acre farm, and would, if careful attention were given to details, return a handsome profit :— Five acres in oats, five acres in grass, five acres in turnips, two aores in potatoes, two aores in wheat, and oue acre for house, orchard, and kitchen garden. This system, would give a four years' courae. Now, let us take an estimate of the protnble returns that would result from such a system of management. Five acre* of oats averaging, say, 40 bushels, would yield 200 bushels — 60001b of meal. The value of 2(io bushels oats, say at a low estimate, would be £12 10a. Grass and turnips (drills), £25. Potatoes, two acres, five tons peracrefalow estimate), worth £20; but potatoes yield in this colony about double this quantity. Two acres wheat or barley average 30 buslae)a=6o bushels, worth £9. These icems would give a return of £66 103. Without including the produce of the dairy and garden, fawls, &c, and which if added would bring the return up to about £80 — quite sufficient for one family to live on, I fancy. Contentment is one of the factors in society that seems but imperfectly understood in our age. If men and women were a little lets discontented with their loft iv life they would find things prosper a little better with them, for when tbe larder is full surely they have eorae cause to congratulate themselves.

We are told that our land requires to be nationalised, and all the ills of modern times would soon disappear ; but it seems when the land is within the reach of all tbe ills still exist, and. like Oliver Twist, " the people cry for more" liberal laws. Some cry out that our lands are being cut up too much, and that large estates are our only salvation, and sheep and cattle the tumnum bouum of existence. No doubt in the early period of a nation's history large estates are promoters of civilisation in lonely places, and tend to draw the people away from cities and towns. No one will deny that living away from (he common haunts of men is a life that few cure for, or that such a life has nob many drawbacks. Thus in a measure here the early settlers bad to content themselves with the circumstances that surrounded their lives, and farming on a large scale became almost a necessity; while it is hardly an evil even now.— l am, &0., J. Gobdow. Obatton, July 17.