The Land Companies.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6147, 20 August 1891, Page 2

The Land Companies.

■• - — " ♦''. -:-', ' The following is an extract from ..* letter; by Mr W. H. Pearson, which appeare&in the Otago Daily Times :~ Now lot up inquire, into the.Tecbrd^f the holders of large estates— land companies and private individuals.. The colonist who arrived in the seventies found in every part of Niw Zealand a dejsej9 |of stable settlement which, considering jita age, was surprising. His aatqnishimenfe would have Tbeen considerably greater had he arrived^ in '55, when! did, and seen the wilderness 6^ of prosperous, promising garden 'h&d^beafc oarved. Where did the means come from which enabled the various Provincial Governments to conßlrucfe • . such public works? Where bufeiromseapltulista. and companies investing ia \tho waste lands of the. Crown. The. purchases for ordinary settlement of. small farms could hardly have satisfied the chronio itnpeouniosity .of; the varioua Treasurers. Nay, hundieda r-^ofi ;th&& very small farmers were eaabled*to become Suoh solely l>y th¥CQ|rhiibgSi^rived from the employ ment. given them by the large landowners, "" Somewhere about '65, one of the large land companies presently absorbed into the New Zealand and Australian Land Oompany,'purj&hfcsgd ..' very considerable §states in Southi&nti, and commenced cultivating ou^ a. > large scale. For years after they hiad; they simply rained sovereigns '■ id the I district Their .payments' for labour enablsd numbers of the smajl farmers pre-. sently settled in the district to purohasa their land and cultivate i£ T !pheir'bxpen» ditures on stores to provision 'the numerous hands they employed - permanently kept the merchants and storekeepers in. Invercargill district alive. For \ have no hesitation in saying that Had &>tio«'been for this oompany, Southland, between 1865 and 1868, would hei^e u^^ly collapsed. It must have spent upW&rWof LI 00,000 a year in- this one district. This disbuEsetnenfc was far. better than a girai-V lar expenditure would have been on the part of the Government, j The would have meant taxation to follow ; ; .|ge ? former implied plundering the EgypfcjaC —a process as dear to theOhruitian ofs tib^L day as it was to the Jew under tht Mosaiflf dispensation. I believe thii' compjHjy?R* the present time expends L 150,000 aimu* ally in wages alone. Later on,, the em- ; ploymenfc afforded in. the leiteaaitftAttltivation of the Oroydon, Waufcwood, and ; Waimea estates, not onjy .enabled small I farmers to purchase land on deferred and direct payment on the ?eask-; bank of they Makaura, but the steady stream $fw^k]y ; increment made \i possible for'theia^ profitably utilise theirpurbha^eaj a natter \; of greater moment to the cplony fchati^e. .■ mere sale of soma«y 200aorfesi"-It'm;^«nli ' gainful settlemhnt, gainful fco State. This . gain has been derived, and derived/solely, from the expenditure incurred in improving their properties, by the largo proprietors. Without the big landi,. owners there would have been few small : farriers ' f indeed, very toany 1 instawoea .

ttouhtjbe pointed out where the employei haaejtenhia employer, and the plough man the land he erstwhile ploughec for his^master. What occurred in South land Has taken place all over the colony The companies and so-called capitalistsi.e., Itirge land-owners— have virtually madewthe colony, by the millions oi money. --they paid for the land, which enabled the various Provincial Governments to conquer the wilderness and open it up with roads and bridges; by the millions of money they have yearly poured out in improving their lands, giving employment to thousands of thoir fellow colonists, and enabling those who wero steady, frugal, and industrious to obraih farms of their own ; by altering the whole face of the country by their expenditorej and the help they have given- to smaller men to settle, turning the wilderness into a " pleasonce " ; by supporting the Jarge cities, merchants, banka, professions, shopkeepers -all the human materialof civilization ; by sustaining with exports the credit of the colony, and Ynitigatmg to a great extent the disastrous effects of a wasteful mis-manage-ment of public affairs. Those men are our curse i . What has the Government don© ? It has achieved a public works po'icy, a **" white elephant " in our railways, and a public debt of some4o millions. The'Govornmenfe is our blessing ! ! Bismillnh !

Sensational reports were recently reoeived in Brisbane in reference to developments in the Running River silver mine property, at Kangaroo Hills. It was stated that a large body of copper, so pure as to be malleable, has been exposed in the Iron Mount ehaffe with virgin silver. One portion shows virgin silver, apart from native copper. It is in the shape of a filagree work, and is distributed right through the lodo stone. It ia believed thafe the whole Iron Mountain, from the top downwards to an unkown depth, is wholly smelting material, and will probably prove the richest find of its kind in Australia. A seitler up Masterton way was convicted of having rabbits upon his property and fined 20s. He immediately resigned all his public appointments and ■withdrew within himself. If a friend met him in the street and said "How d'ye do?" ho replied, as he passed on, " Don't speak to me, please ; I'm a convicted criminal." Tho State of Louisiana is maintaining its credit In the matter of lynching. A negro named Hampton has been burned to death in accordance with the " wild justice " in question at a place called Caliborne. Hampton's original offence* was a suspicion of being involved fn the theft of a pig. In defending himself, however, from being lynched for this he shot a man—for which he was tried, and .acquitted. He was then arresfced on a charge of stealing the pig; and received a sentence of a year's imprisonment. The other day, on the expiry of the sentence, ho was seized by an armed mob and executed. Such are law and order in the sunny South. 11 No, I can't stay any longer," he said with determination. "What difference does an hour or two make now ?" asked a member of the party. " Your wife will be in bed and asleep, and if sho wakes up she won't know what time it is." "Quite right ! quite right !" ho returned. " I can fool my wife most any time as long as I get home beforo breakfast. Why, I've gone home when the sun was up, kept tho blinds shut, lit the gas, and made her think that it was only a little after twelve. But, gentlemen, I can't fool the baby. I can make the room as dark as I please, but it won't make the baby sleep a minute later than usual, and when she wakes up hungry it comes pretty close to being morning, and my wife knows it. " Gentlemen " he added as he bowed himself oub, **I make it a rule to get home before the baby wakes. It's the only safe way." Mr Perham (says the Wanganui Chronicle), the general engineer appointed to report as to the protective works necessary for the preservation of the river bank, has recommended two alternative schemes for the approval of the Borough Council. The estimated cost of the first is L 49 f OOO, and of the second L7OOO. It is needless to say thafe fche first ia a little more expensive than is likely to be undertaken by the present generation, and even the second, we should say, does not stand much chance of being completed in a hurry, Mr Isitfc (says & contemporary) tells the following story of Inspector Habens : —He was giving an address to the inmates of the Wellington Lunatio Asylum, and in the course of his romarks referred to the practice of the 'women of India throwing their babes into the Ganges. Afc the close of his address one of the female inmates approached him and asked him simply if it was.true what he had stated. Mr Habens answered that it was. " Was it really true V said'the woman. " Yes " said Mr Habens. " Then," said the woman, with an air of artless innocence, " I wonder why your mother did not put you in." Mr Habens collapsed. Sensational reports were recently received in. Brisbane in reference ments in the Running River silver mine property at Kangaroo Hills. It was stated that a large body of copper, so pure as to be malleable, has been exposed in the Iron Mount shaft %vith virgin silver. One portion shows virgin silver, apart from native copper. It is in the shape of a filagree work, and is distributed right through the lode stone. It is believed that the whole Iron Mountain, from tho top downwards to an unknown depth, is wholly smelting material, and will probably prove the richest find of its kind in Australia. A man named Patrick William Earls, who was : confined in Brisbane Caol as a debtor, committed suicide in a determined manner on the 28th ult. in his cell ..by tearing open an artery in his left arm, apparently with a shoemaker's awl, which he had managed to conceal. He had been confined in gaol since April 23, but was adjudicated insolvent on the 20th inafc., and an order was granted calling upon the judgment creditor to show cause why he should not be released. Apparently his detention had a depressing influence on his mind. His widow and four children are residing iv Redfern, Sydney. The following extract from a letter written to Mr Thompson, of Chrisfcehurch, by his son, who is now at Boston, U.S.A., will bo read with interest. He says : — *'rf heard from England last week. They were only working half time in Keighley in the mills. The McKinley Tariff Bill has practically closed the American markets to Bradford, &c, by keeping out all woollen goods, and consequently its has thrown hundreds out of employment for the present. This will give you an idea oi what « prctection ' flo«s. It makes people starve in. one place, and enriches the manufacturer here, but the working man, who ought to be benefited, is the worst off. He cannot get a suife of clothes here under 40 dol or more, which in England cirti'be bought for 16dol. Other thing! afe'eqti&lly as high. I will give you a few of 'tft© prices charged here everyday foi th£f«neral items of every day use. For wiping a shirb, 10 cents ; for washing i pftir of socks, 5 cents ; any kind of under HnenY 8 centa. For shining boots, thi least charge ia 10. cents. In London th< little boys are glad of » penny, bub noth ing under five times that much will aval here, -anjl then it is a lick and promise i yria like. .It amuses aa well as annoys m< wfoji I g#t my ha * r cut - The m °dest P rsc( of ~3(i>lcVnts and 50 cents is all they ask Juifc4an%ls6d »nd2sfor five minutei op«£tloa Loirine'fl head, and even thcr -they claim ifc don'i pay. This is proteotioi with a vengeance." ;^dmital r Tallon, of the French Navy iwys^ Our navy is still capable of beat vibffjkfui. allied fleets of the Dreibund. I %W British navy was against us, however . do, nothing but retreat into port,