SPECIAL SETTLERS FOR TARANAKI. Auckland, August 14.

Otago Witness, Issue 1851, 17 August 1893, Page 14

SPECIAL SETTLERS FOR TARANAKI. Auckland, August 14.

note because of the long period that has elapsed Bince any party of immigrants representing a definite colonising movement landed on our shores from the Home country. As a result of Mr Courtney's English tour the Ruahine immigrants were induced to stake their chances on the prospects of farm life in New Zealand, and to select Taranaki as their future home. Although the bulk of the Ruahine passengers are not practical farmers, there is still every likelihood that they will be well satisfied with their new sphere even if the work be arduous and the life rough to what they have hitherto been used. Many of the most successful settlors on land in New Zealand have been men who had no previous experience in farming. At the same time some movements of this kind, as in the case of Katikati, have proved dismal failures, and if the Government are granting any concessions in favour of immigrants who are not farmers they must obtain a clear guarantee that settlement upon the land, and not employment in town occupation, is intended. Mr Courtney states that there is at present a fairly strong desire to emigrate on the part of the farming community. The past season has been a very bad one for crops in England and on the Continent. Bad seasons have heightened the desire amongst many farmers in England to emigrate and better their condition. Mr Courtney expresses himself convinced that if the Government were to take up farmers from the time they leave their old homes until they are settled on the land in New Zealand they would meet with great success and would be able to settle the waste lands of the colony with the proper sort of men. According to Mr Courtney, very little is known about New Zealand in England, and a systematic course of advertising is necessary in order to properly arouse Englishmen to the suitability of New Zealand as a field for emigration."