The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1886. LABORERS' HOMES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1545, 26 August 1886, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1886. LABORERS' HOMES.

These appears in the Christchurch Press «<f lost Saturday an article i n the subject of Homes tor Farm Laborers. From’the article we gather that Mr Henry Overton, of Meadow Bank, has been advocating the subject in the Country Journal, and giving practical effect to the scheme on his own estate. We are glad the subj u cfc is bi-iug token up. It is now nearly four years since we first suggested the desirability ol adopting such a policy, and it appears it has been banging fire since. Sir Julius Vogel embodied it in one of the Government Bills, but it was r-jected by the House, and it has not since been beard of. There is, however, a diff rence between the plon suggested in this paper, and that which the Press and Mr Overton advocates. Their proposal is that farmers themselves should build cottages on plots of from five acres to 1 ten or twenty acres, according to the quality of tfie land, anil lease them to. agricultural laborers. This would be very good, only that a larger number of .farmers do not possess the means of building cottages, and a large number are so apathetic that they will not take the trouble to doit. It would undoabtedly be a grand thing for farmers to have settled on their lands good workmen, on whom they could depend, and most of them are fully aware of it, but at the same time they exhibit no disposition to to adopt ibis plan, and it appears they cannot easily be got to do it. The great objection to the proposal is that it leaves the laborers completely at the mercy of the farmers, who would in fact become landlords on a small scale. It Would, we think, be better lor all parties, that the farmers shou'd sell the land to the Government, and the laborers become tenants of the Crown. In that way both tbe.farmers and laborers would be independent of each other ; and would be more likely to live amicably together than under the old-world arrangement of man and master. If farmers built the homes for workmen themselves, they would be bound to . give employment to the men 'hey put in them ; if the workmen were tenants of the Crown, the farmers could employ whoever they liked. They would have a larger, and a better selection, and if one man did not suit they could get another. But the great thing in favor of the Government buying the land is that the laborer would be put beyond the teach of eviction, and pet ty tyranny. If truants of the farmers, they would be liable to be evicted at the will of the farmer ; if tenants.of the Crown, they would have a permanent home so long as they paid rent for it. It would be fairer and better to make them independent of each other, and that could only be done in/(he way we suggest. But until workmen themselves take the matter in hand, nothing will be done.