Tuapeka Times

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 1814, 22 July 1891, Page 2

Tuapeka Times

ANO GOLOFIELOS REPORTER AHD ADVERTISER.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1891.

" MEASURES, NOT MEN."

It used to be one of the loudest assurances of the present Govei-nment before they managed to drag themselves on to the Treasury benches' that their first labour on entering office should be to dam up the stream of population that continued to flow out of the colony. Mr Seddon on his banquetting gallopade round the country used to talk of " blocking it up " and " damming it up," as if it were merely a piece of pick-and-shovel work and involved nobbing ,more than a certain expenditure of physical labour, the whole to wind up with a big banquet and a volcanic oration. With Mr Ballance or Mr Reeves, who are presumed to be statesmen of a fiver Order, the colony was a patient who had fallen into the hands of unskilful practitioners, and needed just a few correctives and a stimulant or two to send the national life once move bounding off in the right direction. And, now, how fares the Hon. Richard with his pick-and-shovel ? And what of the two self-sufficient gentlemen with the bolus ? Is the stream dammed up, or does it still flow on with, the same exhausting impetus ? And how is the patient? The outflow still continues with unabated force, and the condition of the patient is every day becoming more critical. The last bulletin issued shows that during tbe month of June the departures were 1,371 and the arrivals 559. This should open the eyes of the Ministry to the Herculean nature of the task they have set themselves. It would be still more instruc* fcive to know the class of people that continue in largest numbers to leaye the colony. They cannot be wealthy people, or those who own property, as property of any kind is hardly saleable just Hoy*-, and it is very doubtful, bad as this country is, if any man would leave it $o seek investment for his money in Queensland or New South Wales or Victoria The first-mentioned of those, is almost on the verge of civil war ; the whole political machinery of the second is now controlled by labour members and Socialists { of the most extreme type ; and the third

baa rioced aud boomed and gambled with the result that its social and national life from the summit to the base has become putrid and corrupt. Not one of them would be trusted on the English Stock Exchange with a loan to save their lives. The unemployed and the indigent cannot, get away; we must therefore, assume that those who leave are for the greater part the most pushing, industrious and energetic of our working population — miners, principally, and men trained in agricultural labour. Is it to induce such people to remain chat Mr Ballance intends to reduce the pnee of postage stamps by £40,000 ? One would think that a better specific would be to take £40,000 worth of duty off the necessaries of life — to make tea and sugar and boots and moleskin and wearing apparel for workingmen and their families cheaper and more easily purchased. Where is bhe virtue or the wisdom in maintaining a high tariff and high, prices aud bolstering up industries where there is no population ? What is the good of turning out protected boots and clothing if there are no purchasers for them ? It is just as- sensible a proceeding as transporting a horde of unemployed to the wilds of Catlins River to famish on a fcenacre section. When all the political delving and digging and flying hither and thither in search of remedies have been tried, it will be found that there is only one way to bring the life of the country back to its normal state, and that i is by foreswearing this periodic tinkerj ing at taxation and setting aside fair areas of agricultural land for settlement. Lefc this be once done ; and men of tho right stamp, with the necessary capital, will be found to take advantage of the opening. But farmers of this kind are not likely at this time of the day to go away from civilisation and leave the facilities of transport and the avenues that lead to consumption behind themandbury themselves in the wilderness. Such men must be provided with land as close as possible to the various centres of life in the colony. But it will be said there is none of this kind of land for them. Then it is the duty of Government to see that there is ; otherwise they will go elsewhere for it. And if they do, the towns will continue as they are now — poor and pauperised and stagnant. The remedy lies in cutting up the big estates wherever and in whatever way the exigencies of the colony demand it. We are no advocates of violence or injustice ; but there is now no other alternative. The new Land Act will give the Government the power of compulsory purchase, and we suppose the graduated tar will facilitate and quicken the process of exchange.