The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25. A STRIKING LESSON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 81, 25 March 1908, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25. A STRIKING LESSON.

Once a gentleman, still writing lor the ' public pre->s, told the people of Hawkes l»ay thul, with the view to the tormation of si harbor, they were engaged 1.1 the building of a breakwater intimated lo ro-d some .CIiUMjOOO, whilst the land of their province; which i-hould be yielding produce for export to justify tlt;> «*«nistruction of Mich a harbor was a!l locked up in big states. Instead of being abundant, their product} was in--dguilicant; they were still living in the pa>U-rnl ago. (Joing a stop further, l»r il!u>trative purposes, he took a wellknown estate of 70.000 acres, nltd figurately breaking it up into farms of 300 acres each, allowing live per«oiii in a family to each farm, that estate would be sustaining in independeiK"* and all the happiness that independence gives, 110.1 oouls, instead of the 20 men. which were then employed as shepherd* and hutkecpevs. This was noT taking any note of the village or township that wa* certain to arise in their midst, oi the employment oi any labor outside the family. Finally, he predicted that unless larger-hearted, broader-minded men were substituted /or the ineapabh "do-nothings" who lor so long )i;id mis governed the country, a terrible con would, sooner or later, result from a continuance of the state o; tilings that then prevailed.

A good many years have pa*se.l since these words were written, and now the Hon. Dr. Fiudlay stands forth to tell the country something interesting about llawke's Hay. He says that ill that fertile province—blessed with % climate: that has no superior—"there are eighty estates of an area of 12!i,UM0 acres, which, roughly speaking, is more than one-twelfth of the whole of that large district; and the present population on these eighty estates is esti- ' mated at a little more than one thousand persons" alwut thirteen individuals to each estate. In llawke's Bay the State has acquired eight estates. The settlement- on these estates ar-> still in their infancy, the families ar> suiall. and the scope for employment has not yet been developed; but already they sustain 121S persons. Reasoning thai if the eighty estates still in the hands of private persons were treated in the same way as the eight acipiircd by the State, the honorable gentleman concludes—"There seems no reason '0 doubt that if the other eighty estates were settled in the same way, we should have a population, of 12,000 or 13.00(1 instead of 1000." So far from there being any reason to doubt, it is 'auiazi.ig that the scholar of the Ministry should have been so singularly modest in his estimate. Those who go forth to work the land, apparently, are never to need the services of blacksmiths, wheelwrights, eai'iienters, bakers, grocers, clothiers, teacher.-,; they are not to have the services of religion; they are to lie denied amusement in short, on tin hind the Hon. Dr. Findlay's 12.000 01 13,000 cultivators and dairy farmers ai\ to lead the lives of savag'es iu.-tead 01 Christian beings in the twentieth ecu tury. It is to be hoped that thes, eighty (.states will be speedily acquire and settled, and that the 'honorabk gentleman will live to realise "how ve,'\ far out he is to-day in his calculation'

Turning to the perhaps .still more interesting question of production, the honorable gentleman takes the facts revealed by the Hatuma estate as a fair illustration of what may be expected to proportionately develop from the acquirement of all the estates. The area of Hatuma was 2(1,1)110 acres. When flic State took the property it gave employ, incut to fourteen persons: now. much happier circumstances. 280 live on it. At the time of acquirement the improvements elicited were estimated at ClT.OBl); they are now valued at t'38.729. It then carried D'I.OUO sheep; the sheep now carried number 47,(>;>8. Tor the few horses then on the run. the horses now number 250. The maximum of cattle then grazing on the run was SOU; it now carries "17U0- ehicily dairy cattle. From a homestead and ii few" mor ■ less wretched huts, there are now 25!) dwellings. Urge areas have been put down in white and green .rops. The striking fact is that all this development is the work of only -evn years! It must be borne in mind that the lirst two ..r three years of Hi., settlers' experiences can' scarcely be laken into account, for the erection of I heir future home, and the fencing ot their lands would necessarily claim, a large measure of their attention. It ,- lerlain the honorable gentleman did nol inlend it to be believed he considered that at Hatuma the full measure of results had been gained—that fuM development had been attained. So lar a* production is concerned. Hatuma .- still in its infancv; bul, even in itinfancy, results have fully justified the policy which led to it- acquirement.

The complaint here is thai the Hon. Dr. Findlay does not appear to have made enough of his subject. Casting his eyes over the eighty estates yet to be inquired, he measured the' future by a wholly inadequate—an imperfect—stau-dard-thnl of Hatuma. The gains that will result in the days to come are at least fourfold what the honorable gentleman indicated, but doubtless for present purposes he felt that he bad said enough. The Covenimcnt anticipate that, as the result of the legislation ot la.-t session, large areas will shortly be put on the market for acquisition by those desirous of going upon the land. That remains to lie seen, ft is open t.i every holder ol a big estate to break it up into farms and lease them on advantageous terms just as the Government has done, and the wonder remains that no big "estate owner has yet seen his way to adopt such a course.' In the meantime, whatever results may flow from the policy of last session, it is gratifying to learn that Ministers do not intend to stay their hands in regard to the acquirement and settlement of the large areas now lying practically uselessly in private hands. All will agree that the country must go forward, i