The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1889. DRIVING CAPITAL AWAY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1952, 5 October 1889, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1889. DRIVING CAPITAL AWAY.

Me, Thomas Calcftt, who has spentj five months in England as Government! Immigration Agent, endeavoring toi induce meii.of ,capital tp, come to r jSTewi Zealand, has. returned/fo the colpnjj,' and told a tale to, the Qtago Times which .plight to set people^hip^-; ing. i During thp five pbqths.h© was (ip i England he,, was hj; .between IJf|QO sn,d 1800 ,,,vyith: capita), iwio w!pr® i desirous of ,c<»paiiggi tp this colony to, in ,hp, received; -besjdes. frpm !,40,Q , letters’ per month r inquirmg aMp.tJbei sprt of,place, this was, result him io,, the!,conclusion ithat ppjly./orj adversp / circumstance*,, Apt),, Jo, ~500; people with a quarter or a ./ofi money would have,.; come, .into, thisl colony.., He says that several,, papers: were ; constantly, /crying , ithp/ j)splepy; dowp. , Tiiey bad articles , and i graphs,, daily ~,on . the, subject,,, andj ‘‘ nothing yvas/tojo Eot' or toq’;heay,y ( io| say against this, Ifttlp jj} iyasl looked ppbii; in the city circles , |n the large/towns as the last in importance of/any of British cplpnips. Tpu daily and/'hourly /wpifid mpet 1 persons of .very fail:, .intelligence: ( with business matters/, /and they ( would,hayp the old story of,, the enptmpu*, debt ~ and the, , paucity, of population of th® colony - and .the daily papers. , ;would chronicle .the niodus from / ( New, Zealand with, capital letters/, and crosa-headinge, ‘ Another Exodus from New Zealand. ’ Tou have. t no idea, out here of the terrible reputation' that/ New Zealand had at Home.’’ I We have foy. been accustomed to hear warnings that any step to,'alter the present order of things, would, drive, capital; away,' The Stout-Ybgel, Government wore capij^l/away' of intpo-.' iducing the perpetual leasing, ayjstem ; they would driyp /capital, avyay if 'they , introduced the » they would, drive pspital i£ they 'aholished'the!p,rpperty feax and/put! on a land tax," and, in fact, their very presence in the Ministry wae, : Bufiicieht to make capital fly from the colony. But what wAs all the' capital ■ they, drove away compared with what the Atkifiaonian’s have turhPd away. ~.The: honest fact i)g,'that while the StoutYogel// Ministry; heldoffice they wore, able to induce a large number of men with capital to come into the country. If we remember rightly Mr Ballance in hia speech at Wanganui stAled 'that| during his last year of office' /he' had introduced and, settled on the land! several / families whose aggregate; capital amounted to between £BO,OOO ■ and £IOO,OOO. Had he been allowed to continue his policy, what would have been the 'result ? He would have continued his village settlements, and also his land-acquisi-tion'proposals, and. instead of the people flying away from our shores’ as they have done and as they are doing still, they would have remained at home and settled on the land. Let ' any one now see what tho result of the change has been, Tpn thousand of opr most enterprising and best people have left the colony, and this fact has

prevented people in Erigfena'irpm coming to settle here. By this Mr Oalciitt says we,lost about 500 families and a quarter of a million of money, and the •10,000 people who-have gone. away took on an average £25 each, or another quarter .of a million. If this is not driving capital away what is ? If this is not enough to open-anyone's eyqs nothing cai, rife, & .vib* fancy* iafcetok. The laid before that we had lost iO',Wd of our population. . Mr Calcutt says the . effect of the people leaving the colony was to keep English peoplewhqliW made up their minds to come from coming here, and thus a quarter; of a million of; money Was lost. Now, why is it that! this has taken place F It is simply this: The Stout-Yogel Government proposed to 1 buy up large 1 estates under the Land, Acquisition Bill, and this did, not < suit the .owners of these estates,' It Would bait thb owners in ; 'many instances ; to’ sell, But not at the 'prices the Government proposed to give. The Government ’proposed to give them the property taf value, but they did not think that £odd enoughs They have undervalued’ the, land tor* property tax purposes,'and are'thus 'defrauding the revenue, ! and they lT do ■ not want to' sell at so low a figure. : They are holding-for fancy prices. Here then is the whole secret of it. The colony is being governed by the Atkinson regime to suit these people,; and thus the people are being driven out of it. When Sir Harry Atkinson returned to power in 1879 the people fled from the colony just as they‘did in 1887, and thus it would appear that his name is enough to frighten them away. If the people of this; colony want the place to go ahead they must change the policy of the country, and put men into Parliament .who will doit. ■