wanganui Herald. (published daily), WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1880. THE BASE OF THE PYRAMID.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4034, 29 December 1880, Page 2

wanganui Herald. (published daily), WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1880. THE BASE OF THE PYRAMID.

The great industry of the colony is naturally the cultivation of the soil, and the principal industrial foundation on which the general prosperity must rest is the people who own and cultivate it. This is the cardinal doctrine of the Liberal party, not to be affected by the defection of a few or the hostility of their opponents. If there is not such a dispersion of property as to make the great body of the cultivators freeholders, our experience of the system of feudal tenures and their operations in the old world, has taught us nothing, and we must be prepared to witness at some future period the revolutions, the social disorder, and the agrarian bitterness which have in almost every age of the world been associated with the monopoly and the farming of great estates. Latifundia perdidere Italimi — the great estates ruined Italy — is a proverb that has become the wisdom of many, but unfortunately not the practice of all. England is at present passing through the fire, but it would be a great error to imagine that the Irish difficulty, is peculiar to Ireland. The feudal system is nearly run out in England also — a few years hence, probably when the ; wave of reaction against the monopoly of the territory of the country will pass over the Channel, being all that is required to bring about the change. In many of the colonies the lesson of history has not been learnt. With a criminal recklessness the land is being alienated without restriction in nearly, if not all, of the Australasian colonies. In Victoria the feudal war has commenced, and we have seen how the monopolists of New Zealand have sympathised with the squatters in their contest for the mastery — we have seen howscandalouslythepeopleortheir leaders in that colony have been libelled by a class and their hired writers in the Press of this colony who have their own game to play. In New Zealand the best lands have disappeared, and what is the outlook for the future ? The settlers, we fear, * have not sufficiently considered the question. Their children are growing up, and where is the prospect ? It does not behove them to sit idly looking on, while the heritage of their children is passing a*way from them, not to be reclaimed

perhaps for generations, and then not without a revolution.

The land, notwithstanding an impression carefully encouraged to the contrary, is not becoming more widely distributed. In 1875 there was one holding to every 18 of- the population. In 1880 there is* only one holding to every 20 of the population. And yet there have been some millions of acres alienated in the interval. It is true that in our own part of the colony we are making' some progress, though the next Census may show that the number of holdings has not done more than keep pace with the population. In the County of Wanganui the number of .freehold holdings in February, 1879, was 167; in 1880 they are 180. Is this very moderate increase in a ratio equal to the increase of -population 1 But in Rangitikei, an adjoining County, the figures tell in an opposite direction. In 1879 the freehold holdings in this County were 171 ; in 1880 there are only 159. So that the mopping up, on the Turakina pattern, is going on, and unless a check is put to it, Rangitikei and her settlements will be ruined. The big estates are here fast strangling one of the finest • parts of the colony. There is the remedy in a progressive land tax. Before many years the settlers themselves will be demanding such a tax as a means of saving them from "extermination, and the colony from collapse. In countries which have preserved the feudal system like England the pyramid of the nation is standing on the small end \ the apex has become the base, and we see what is happening. There the land is owned by the few, an exclusive aristocracy, on whom the great body of the cultivators depend. The natural order of things has become reversed. We see, what a brilliant writer in the Fortnightly Review — the Rev Barham Zuicke — has described it, ' a dishorned nation ' j and when social disorder occurs, statesmen look wise and grow righteously indignant, thinking they will settle matters by suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act ! Why is there absolute content in rural France, once the most revolutionary of countries? The answer is written in every page of her history. The cultivators of the soil are the owners thereof. But they were not always so \ and thus we compare and establish great truths. Shall industrial New Zealand become an inverted pyramid or not 1 The response is with the people themselves. The danger is imminent, and the most available remedies are not to be neglected if monopoly is to be checked. The first and most immediately accessible is a graduated tax falling in its incidence with greatest weight on the large estates. Are the Liberal party prepared to make this the first proposition in their programme ? To ask such a question is really to ask if there is such an organization, and is it earnest 1

Tne Tuapeka County Council, it appears from the Otago Daily Times, has set itself up as a kind of Land Board for the interior. It acts right royally in the matter of granting leases over reserves, and of course just as royally pockets all rents accruing. It has its Crown lands ranger, who draws up elaborate returns as to the acreage of reserves held under County lease, and as to arrears of rent ; and actually it goes the length of threatening to sue persons in occupation of portions of reserves who do not meet the demands of the County Treasurer. The fun of the thing is that the County Council is entirely without power to deal with any reserves except its own endowments. The leases it grants so benignly are ultra vires in the highest possible degree, and the matter having been brought under the notice of the Land Board, Mr Maitland is going to throw a bombshell into the County camp, in the shape of an action against one of the lessees for illegal occupation of Crown lands.

According to the Southland Times there are about a dozen men making on an average £1 per day, by washing the sand on the beach at Bushy Point between Lewis Point and the mouth of the Mataura.

The Hawera Star says it is rumoured that, at the late meeting at Parihaka, Te Whiti ordered all the women to return to their kaingas, and to offer a passive resistance to the occupation of the land by the Pakeha, "It is no secretnow," says the Star, "that had the Native Minister and the Colonial Treasurer been allowed to do as they wished by the other members of the Cabinet, a demand, accompanied by fixed bayonets, would have been made at Parihaka for the surrender of Hiroki.

Soon after the Mayoral election at the Thames two cases came before the Small Debts Court at the instance of Mr G. N. Brassey. Both were for alleged professional services. In one case, the defence was that plaintiff had promised to forego the debt if defendant would vote for him, and he had done so In the other case, defendant alleged that the debt had long since been satisfied, but refusal to pledge herself to vote for plaintiff ,on a recent occasion ciused him to revive the old score. Of course the Bench could take no cognizance of the defence set up in each case, and judgment was accordingly passed for the respective amounts claimed.

The Auckland Herald has the following : — " Mr H. Lloyd of the Wade, resident a few miles south of Mr Robert Graham's, Waiwera Springs, has discovered a quartz reef, which he believes to be gold bearing, among the hills at the back of the district, and has brought a parcel of about a ton to the Thames to be tested."

The witnesses from Opunake in the Tuhi case complained that the allowance of £3 14s made to them by the Government was insufficient to defray their expenses, and most of them, Maoris as well as Europeans, refused to sign for it. The Europeans complained to the Minister of Justice without obtaining any redress, but the Maori witnesses are said to have been more successful with the Native Minister, from whom, .it is reported, they received presents of clothing.

A serious charge has been made against Constable Bailey, of Opunake. In March last the camp stores were placed in his care, after having been taken out of the hands of Sergt. Smith, and in October, when stock was taken by Mr Anderson, the head storekeeper, of Wellington, about £20 or £30 worth of goods was unaccounted for. Constable Bailey has demanded a court of enquiry, and public opinion at Opunake very naturally asks wh3tner he ever received the goods from Sergt Smith, as there was no stock-taking or regular delivery when they were transferred to him.

The Patea Mail says :—" To prevent private arrangements between applicants for the same sections on deferred payment, the Land Commissioner has decided not to make public the number of applicants' for sections until the time of sale. He believes this will defeat the private bargaining which is known to have gone on extensively at the late sales. "

The Wellington Benevolent Institution passed a resolution recently that all ablebodied men men receiving relief should break stones to the value of. the relief received. The consequence has been chat several loafers have ceased to eat the bread of idleness.

Mr Bones, a settler between Awahuri and Feilding has an acre, of , hops, which is pronounced equal to anything that could be shewn in the County of Kent. The crop is the admiration of all who pass along, and is a convincing proof of the richness of the soilk-rJianawfttw Standard,

At Kaikoura, recently, a ground shark, containing thirty-seven young ones, was caught by a party of fishermen inside the outer reef.

The purchasers of the land on the Plains do not appear to care much for the idle threats of the natives, and apparently pay little heed to the hundred and one rumors floating about. Mr Miiir, of Auckland, has built his house, and slept in it on Tuesday night Mr Hastie, another purchaser from Auckland, is building, and he intends taking a family of seve*n children on to his holding. Mr Box has been living on the Plains for some time, near a stream to which he has given the pretty title of "JEtosey Creek." There is also a two-roomed cottage at Okaiawa, but we are unable to ascertain the name of the occupant. Mr Yor'ke, Mrßainie, and others are busily at work. In less than twelve months, if all goes well, there will be several homesteads in the place so long covered with fern. — Hawera Star.

The following promotions and appointments have been made in the Wanganui Rifle Volunteer Cadets :— Cadet Alfred Howden Bfockman to be Lieut, vice Nutsford resigned ; Cadet David Walker Low to be Sub-Lieut, vice- Thomson resigned; Sergeant Michael Keegan 'to be Color-Ser-geant ; Corporals Frederick Anker, James Carroll, and Frederick, James to be Sergeants ; Cadets Edward Bush, John Hall, Thomas Perm, and George Roddy to be Corporals. '

Tenders are to be called for at once for the new Courthouse at Palmerston North,

The Victorian police seem determined to root out the last remains of the Kelly gang sympathisers. They are now going for their sisters, and their cousins,' and their aunts. Dan Byrne's mother has been run in, and others are to follow.

"A curious case," says the Hawera Star, " has been brought under our notice in relation to the Property Assessment. A property is let for a certain rental, considerably more than a fourteenth part of its actual value, which is clearly defined by the fact that there is a right of purchase allowed to the lessee, at the end of the term of the lease, for considerably less than fourteen times the rental. At the present time, the property is certainly worth less than the amount fixed in the purchasing clause ; nevertheless, although the owner represented the facts of the case to the Commissioner, the former has been served with a valuation notice, assessing the property at fourteen times the rental, and therefore considerably higher than the selling value some years hence."

The Wellington fruiters complain that the demand for fruit is not nearly so great as it was last year, although it js much cheaper.

The Hon. the Native Minister notifies in the Gazette that it has been brought to the knowledge of the Government that certain persons have been negotiating with the nat #-r es of the West Coa between Wanganui ana Taranaki for leases or other contracts for the occupation of lands reserved or to be reserved, for the benefit of the said natives ; and gives notice that such such leases or contracts are void in law, and will not be recognised by the Government. Surveyors are cautioned against executing any surveys of such reserves or parts thereof without express authority from the Government.

A most amazing article on our " Widows " has appeared in one of the Society journals. The writer, in a kind of rhapsody, declares that widowhood is the perfected condition of women. He declares that a mother at 22 and a widow at 28 is what every well-con-ducted woman ought to be. She then has her life before her, and is free to make the most out of it. She knows a great deal, but not so much to have quenched her thirst for knowledge, and now she finds herself able to eat a whole basketful of those naughty and tempting apples if she so pleases without fear of censure or indigestion. Having shown, in terms I do not care to reproduce, that the state of widowhood is "blessed," the writer adds regretfully; — "Such is the sad condition of our human affairs, that is necessary to undergo for some years at least the tedium of matrimony before one can be eligible for the blessings of widowhood." This is a specimen of the pabulum provided by the most self-assertive of all the " society " journals.

Mr Archibald Cameron's house in the Parae Karetu is nearing completion, and when finished will add another to the many comfortable dwellings erected of late in that district. Pleasingly situated upon a rise, in a clearing of about 30 acres, it commands a fine view of the beautiful bush scenery with which it is surrounded, and is judiciously protected from the force of the prevailing winds which blow in that neighbourhood. The contract is being carried out by Messrs Duley and Signal," and the whole of the work is done upon the spot. The timber used is white pine, hand-sawed, the distance from town rendering this comparatively slow method more profitable than obtaining materials from the mills, in which case everything woull have to be packed from Marton about 16 miles. The building contains 7 rooms, 4 on the ground floor, all match-lined, and 3 upstairs, scrimmed and papered. A verandah running round the back part of the house gives a very comfortable appearance to the dwelling, which, when it has received its last coat of paint will reflect credit alike upon the owner and contractors, who have had to labour under many difficulties not to be met with in the erection of similar buildings in town.

Patrick Magrath last Friday was committed to take his trial at the District Court, Palmerston, on a charge of stealing a watch from Miss Bellve, of the Empire Hotel, Fielding. He was arrested in Martonon the 22nd instant, by Constable Coyle for drunkenness, and when in the lock-up was overheard talking about a watch he had sold to a local watchmaker. Not being a likely person to possess a valuable lady's gold watch, inquiries were instituted, resulting in his arrest for the larceny.'

A Maori had a very narrow escape from death a few days ago on the railway between Oroua Bridge and Jackeytown. Having probably taken too much beer he lay down to sleep on the line, and was awakened, and no doubt frightened into sobriety, by the noise of the train and the shrieking of the danger signal, which caused him to spring to attention more quickly than he or any other warrior did at the word of command.

" The Shaughraun " will be repeated tonight at the Princess's Theatre.

A copy of Mr H. I. Jones' Shilling Almanack and Directory has been sent to us. It is admirably printed, and abounds in interesting information. The directories, both of townand country, are very complete, and will be of inestimable benefit to -the business community.

We learn that Mr J. Paul's tender of £8000 cash for the drapery stock of Messrs N. Edwards and Co., of Nelson, has been accepted. Mr Paul, when in Nelson a few days ago on business connected with the tendering for Wymond's stock, chanced to lookin at Edwards'. Going through the drapery stock he was asked to make an offer, which he did straight away, viz., £8000 cash. This amount was considered far too low, and Mr Paul was repeatedly urged by telegrams and letters to increase the offer. He was firm, however, and the executors of the late John Symons at last deemed it advisable to accept the cash offer rather than divide the account.

At the last general election in England there was unlimited bribery on both sides. It is computed that in Macclesfield 4000 votes were bribed out of a possible 6000. Out of 2672 votes polled by one candidate 257 only were unbribed, and 1863 votes were bribed for £631. The chief anxiety on either side was too see that the other side were not ' c beating them with money. "

The Nelson cricketers left by the Wakatu for Wellington at seven on Tuesday evening. They play a two days' match at Wellington on Thursday and Friday.

A whaleboat race between crews selected from the Wanganui Rifles and Fire Brigade will be rowed on New Year's Eve. The Rifles will be represented in the Danger by Hughes (stroke), Connell, Stanley, Leydon, and W. Jones, H. Bush (cox).

Tea, Coffee, and Svgar — Alexander Munro, although he gives the best possible value in every article in the grocery trade — gives his principal attention to excel in the most im portent articles^ tea, coffee, and BUgar,~Advfr,

New Zealand was ahead of "England in establishing steam tramways in towns, and it is probable that she will have her telephones in working order before the home telegraph authorities have succeeded in accomplishing the work. The English department, however, has been delayed in consequence of litigation brought by a private company to test the question whether the Postmaster-General had a monopoly for the erection of telephones for the conveyance of Sublic messages. This has only just been ecided in favor of the Postmaster-General, and" now we learn, by cable, that the erection" of telephones will proceed forthwith. — Post. . The Hawera Star says :— The crops throughout the district are looking splendid, and hay-making is going on briskly. The oat crops on Messrs Chalmers' and Hunter's farms are quite a treat to look at, and must have helped, indirectly, to swell the sum total of last week'B sales. Mr Caverhill appears likely to receive the reward of his pluck and enterprise : his 300 acres of crops presents a very healthy appearance. We have, however, seen no better crop of oats than Mr Quinlivan's, and it is, we believe, the third white crop in succession.

It is said that at the late Parihaka meeting eleven bullocks were eaten in one day.

There is one country in Europe which rejoices in having no army, no navy, and no foreign policy— namely, • Switzerland. As soon as this example begins' to be generally followed the millehium may be considered to have set in.

A pointer, the property of Mr Meyer, of Cincinnati, recently gave birth to 20 puppies. This is the largest on record.