THE LAND LAWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVIII, Issue 9, 25 June 1886, Page 18

THE LAND LAWS.

TO THE EDITOR N.Z. TABLET. KP'T" l^ Jour leadia S articl e of the 18th inst., on the settlements the land, you Tcmirk that more settlement has taken nlace m Canterbury than elsewhere .under the system of tree selection although the price fixed was a high one. And you go onto Mk | Might it not be well to try simplicity once more ? and further that ! settlement is not advancing, rather the contrary, notwithstanding , that the law auctions various modes of obtaining land Sir 4ou | have hit the right nail on the head. Here we have all sorts of modes of obtaining land but the right one. Men of no real knowledge or experience in the matter have been continually experimenting ?n land legislauont.il we have as many different systems as we have had Ministries, but the right one, the one which lay under their nose which has been adopted in the neighbouring Colonies for many velrs' and under which these Colonies are still progressing as rapidlrin settling the people as when the land was firs* thrown ope!? fe to? S l°^°™ cx P enmental land legislatoM. They must have so™. £« B*h8 *h their ° W , D ' something unlike other people's, something which bears the mark of genius, and they have got it with a vengeance And what is the result ? Why, that whilst discouraging and driviS away the right class of settler-, the men who really want land and are prepared to work it with benefit to themselves, and the country, if only they would be allowed to choose for themselves • they are encouraging a class of settlement which is neither beneficial to itself or to the country. We all know how a great number of those who have taken up land are and have been for some years past trying to get rid of then liabilities, and that the arrears of rent now ojini to the Government amounts to a very large sum. And this result has been brought about m a great measure by the system of £ urveving land in blocks If the system of free selection before snivel had been adopted at first, as it has b 2 en in the Australia? colonies, the present depression would have been very lightly felt in Otago at any rate ; men would not then have rusbed on to land with insufficient means, and in many cises with still less knowledge of tha business ; they would not ba/e then glutted the markets with grain to their own and their neighbour's detriment, in a vain attempt to get the means to pay their rent, to cultivate and stock their land, to provide the needful machinery, and to keep themselves and families as well ; and they would not be so often found in the reports of the sittings of the Waste Land Board as being in arrears with their rent for perhaps years, and in danger, of losing all the labour of these years at the last. Men at home or in the other colonies who might wish to settle here, would then be satisfied that they would be fure to get h \ J y Came b f e ' and t0 be able t0 Belect ifc themselves, which they cannot be sure of now. And, after all this is what attracts population of the sort we want— namely, the knowledge that as soon as they arrive in a Colony, the land is open for them to select from, at a price, and on simple conditions. Under the present system if a man arrives just when the Board has thrown open a block, he has to compete with others vs ho have been there long before him who know every good section m the block, and « ho know the mode of procedure. If he arrives some lime after a blork has been thrown open and, as a matter of course, all the good sections taken up, he has to wait an indefinite period, until the Board sees fit to throw open another. No man would think, of coming to a Colony to look for land, who knew that such a system as this prevailed there Under the other system, a man can be sure of getting land ; he can select it himself to suit his means and his purposes and he knows the price he has to pay and the terms of payment. Under this system, only such men settle en land as are prepared to do so, and who know their business, and are therefore most likely to benefit both themselves and the country. And under this system the country is not put to the expense of surveying large blocks for which it is when itta^X'CT " " tUer ™* f °< the "««* of ntw t0 * A *° P H hia B J- tem WOuld only be blowing in the footsteps of others, and although it would succeed better in attracting nopulation and inducing settlement, it would not add to the fame of our land legislators, and is therefore not likely to be adopted. Bat if the working of the system, and its success in inducing settlement m the other colonies were known and understood here by the people I fepl sure public opinion would soon cause it to be adopted,— I am, 'etc ' June 21, 1885. Colonial. "