THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18,1896. THE LAND QUESTION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2934, 18 February 1896, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18,1896. THE LAND QUESTION.

It is absolutely certain that the settlement of the people on the land is the most important function the Government of a now country can perform. From the land we get everything; it is the source of all wealth, and consequently the more there is taken out of if, tho more wealthy we must become. It is not the land settlers only who benefit, but the whole community. All are dependent on the land, and the more it produces the greater must be our measure of prosperity. With that we think no one will disagree, and that being so we think the work done by the present Government is highly commendable. Those who ask what good has the present Government done would find an answer in the very lucid speech delivered by the Hon. John McKenzie recently in Christchurch, in which he gave an account of his stewardship. After dealing with the difficulties in the way, and the obstruction of the Legislative Council, Mr McKenzie said that in their first year they settled on Crown lauds 963 selectors on 529,720 acres, or an average of 371 acres to each settler, in 1893 they settled 2578 settlers on nearly 500,000 acres, average area per settlor 211 acres; in 1894 2454 selectors were settlsd on 668,064 acres, average of 272 acres per settler; in 18952003 selectors were settled on 398,973 acres, average per settler 199 acres. The years always end on the 31st of March, and from that date to the Ist of January last, 9 months cf the current year had elapsed, during which time 1914 selectors settled on 664,015 acres, average per settler 138 acres. The total of 4 years and 9 months was 10,902 selectors settled on 2,404,925 acres, the average area per settler being 220 acres. These figures are taken from tho speech of the Minister of Lands delivered in Christchurch recently, and cannot be doubted, for, putting his well known honesty aside, he would not dare to give wrong figures lest ha might be found out. We have very frequently felt surprised at the vitality of tho colony under such crushing depression ns she has gone through during the past few years, and here is the secret of it. There are over two million more acres yielding their wealth to the people, but this is not all. Pastoral leases are not included, and neither are estates taken under the Land for.Settlemont. The figures given above relate to Crown lands only, and besides these the Government have bought from private owners 20 estates containing 48,801 acres, which have been disposed of to 221 selectors, of whom 109 wore residing on the land. The total purchase money was A 274,803 and the value of the improvements already made by the settlers is £9707. Seven more estates containing 38,004 acres were purchased, but not paid for, as the deeds were not completed. The purchase money was £194,207, but there was £IOO,OOO in hand to buy more land as soon as anything suitable is offered. The best of it is that the tenants are paying their rents. The Studholme Junction Settlement paid 5h per cent, on outlay, Parcora 5J per cent., despised Pomahaka 4.2 per cent., Papua 5.7 percent., Cheviot over 5 per cent., and so on. Thus the settlement system has beeu a great success, for instead of losing by it the Government are making a profit out of it, while the country has in addition the advantage of closer settlement. Now let us put prejudice and party bias aside and ask ourselves the plain question, la not this good for all of us ? Just think it out. We have close on 12,000 more landholders. We have 900 people on Cheviot where only tho late Mr Robinson and a few shepherds lived previously, and this must exercise a beneficial influence ail round. Many of these settlers would have been swelling tho ranks of tho unemployed, and would have had to be assisted by charitable aid. By having them deriving their own livelihood out of the earth, we save the rates and taxes which would have to be raised by charitable aid. They are developing the resources of the colony, and increasing the sum total of our exports. For these exports we got English gold, it is spent in this colony, and wo all get a share of it. Tho settlement of these people on tho land thins the labour market and improves the position of those earning their day’s wages. Lot tho working men of this district count the number of men who have left it to settle on these lauds during tho last few years, and ask themselves ; If all these men were hero' still what would bo the condition of labour now. There are too many as it is, how would'it bo if some had not gone away ? The number of the unemployed would bo twice what it has been, and wages would be down to starvation point. Thus tho ratepayer is benefited, tho working man is benefited, tho colony is benefited, everyone is benefited, and yet we are asked, What good has the Governineut done ? Now would these results have been produced if tho Opposition had remained in power ! We have only to refer to tho condition of tilings previous to Mr John McKenzie becoming Minister of Lands. Everyone will remember that tlie leases of several of the runs in Canterbury fell duo about 2 years before Mr McKenzie took office, and what happened. Tho land was sold for cash to dummies of tho banks, mortgage companies, and money-rings, and tho people, with few exceptions, got none of it. Our readers know this as well as wo do; they know that Mr McKenzie spent the first year of office in dummyhunting, and that ho has been successful in rendering the dummy as extinct as the moa. Lot people think of this, and ask themselves Would land settlement have progressed as it has if tho Opposition had been in power I They will have no difficulty in answering tho question, and that being so, an answer is given to tho question What good has tho Government done

THE CHRISTCHURCH ELECTION. Tub Conservatives of Christchurch, with Mr Rhodes at their head, have celebrated their victory iu the recent election with a banquet. It is regarded as bad taste to crow over a vanquished opponent, but evidently the Conservative Party aro not influenced by any such considerations. Mr Rhodes, who occupied the chair, was very jubilant. The present Ministry, he said, got iu on the strength of the strikes, and they have been trying to keep up the feeling ever since. There are evidently two ways of looking at this. It appears to us that instead of trying to keep tho feeling engendered by the strikes alive the present Government have done their best to kill it. They have passed tho Arbitration and Conciliation Act, which will prevent strikes from taking place iu future. Whenever a dispute arises between employers and employees in future it must bo referred to an Arbitration Court, and both must abide by the decision. The present Government have absolutely killed strikes; we can have no more of them, and, consequently, how can it be said that they have been trying to keep the feeling engendered,by them alive '! Now let us look at what led to the strikes. Simply this; The Rev. Rutherford Waddell, of Dunedin, discovered that sweating existed in that city. It was exposed by tho Otago Daily Times, public meetings were held, at which the sweating employers were denounced, and an exciting agitation was set on foot. The discovery of the existence of sweating resulted in the working classes becoming alarmed, and they commsuced to form trades-unions all over the colony. This is what led to the strike; it was due to those who wore introducing the sweating system of tho Old Countries into this colony, and this is what has led to all the labor legis latiou. The present Government only gave legal effect to the will of the people. The Shops and Shop Assistants Act has been objected to most of any, but what is the real fact concerning it ? It is this : That long before it passed into law the people of this colony had actually agreed to a weekly half-holiday. Now when the people of their own free will agree to anything, it is time to give legal effect to their wishes The necessity for an Act on the subject arose from the fact that while the great majority agreed to close, there were some who kept their shops open. This was manifestly unfair to those who closed ; all should close or none, and hence the Act to compel all to close their shops for half-a-day every week. The people as a whole have already agreed to tho half-holiday, and consequently it was only right and proper to give legal effect to what had tho moral sanction of both employer and employed already. We are not surprised at all at our friends being jubilant over their success; no doubt their turn will come, but we cannot believe that the next election will bring it. The Hon. Mr Rolleston sent a telegram stating that the “ country rejoices ” at tho result of the election. The wish is probably father to the thought with Mr Rolleston, but so far as we are concerned wo aro of opinion that the country is still favorable to the present Government, and that notwithstanding what has happened in Christchurch it will return a substantial majority of Liberals at the next General Election.