A Few Words to Intending Settlers.

From the "Budget and Taranaki Weekly Herald." Saturday, December 21, 1878.

We frequently receive letters from persons outside the district asking for information with regard to the Government land for sale, and its suitability for settlers of small page 30 means, who desire to make for themselves a home on the laud. We therefore propose as briefly as possible to enumerate the most prominent features of our land system as administered by the Land Board, also the quality and character of the land offered for sale, and its fitness for small capitalists who propose to depend more on their own industry and labour in making a farm out of the raw lands than on an ample supply of cash. We would also premise that the information is for the benefit of persons who know nothing of our land and the mode of dealing with it, and not for home readers who are more or less acquainted with the subject. The waste land at present dealt with by the Board consists almost entirely of land covered with forest, and lies to the north east of Mount Egmont, a volcanic cone, which rises 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. The land lies on the slope of the mountain, in a belt of some ten miles wide, the inner boundary of which is about eight miles from the summit. This belt of land is traversed by a line of railway in course of construction connecting New Plymouth with Patea and Wanganui. The line is now open to Inglewood, the first township laid out by the Government in this direction, about 13 miles from New Plymouth, but it is anticipated that a further extension to the township of Stratford, on the upper part of the Patea river, where it descends from the slope of Mount Egmont, will be open for traffic in August next. This township is about 13 miles from Inglewood, and the line is all through forest land, the whole of which on each side has been disposed of, some to actual settlers, the balance being held by persons who intend in the future to settle, and others who hold to sell at an advance when the additional value given to the land by surrounding settlement satisfies their views of a sufficient profit. No land can now be had between Inglewood and Stratford from the Government within three miles of the line of railway, but beyond that distance there is ample at prices varying from £1 to £1 10s. per acre. Beyond Stratford in the direction of Hawera a block will shortly be opened for sale fronting on the line of railway, and as the surveys advance no doubt other blocks will be offered in that vicinity. No land can be offered for sale until it has been surveyed, and the map open for inspection for one month at the Land Office. The land is cut up into allotments varying from 50 to 200 and page 31 300 acres, and is priced by the Board at from £2 to £3 fronting on the railway, to from 20s. to 30s. three or four miles back. One-third of the area of each block is offered for sale on deferred payments, payable by ten annual instalments, the land being priced one-half more than if sold for cash. Thus, if an allotment of land worth £2 per acre for cash is sold on deferred payments the upset price would be £3. All the land to be sold for cash is offered by auction at the upset price fixed by the Board. All lands not sold at auction are open for sale one month after at the upset price. Land offered for sale on deferred payments is open for selection on a day fixed by the Board, and if only one applicant applies for an allotment he at once obtains a license to occupy it, having previously made a deposit of one-tenth of the upset price. If there is more than one applicant for the allotment it is put up to auction between the applicants. The successful applicant has to make certain improvements on the land, not of a very difficult nature, but if the land is open, or mostly open, he must reside on it at the end of six months. If the land is mostly forest, the applicant can, with the consent of the Board, defer residing on it for any period not over four years. As a rule it is easier for an industrious man to make a home for himself in the forest than in the open land. In the first place forest land of the same quality can be obtained at from one-fourth to one-half the price of open land. In the next place an axe and a bill-hook are quite sufficient plant for operations in the bush, and when a few acres are felled at the medium cost of £2. 10s. pet-acre, if contracted for, or an equivalent value of labour if the selector does his own felling, it can be burnt off in February or March, and grassed down in April, growing good feed for cattle the ensuing spring. If the object is grass seed—which is the most profitable, as no outlay is then necessary for stock—it could be shut up with a cheap log fence, and a fair half crop of cocksfoot insured for the ensuing year. The following year a full crop would be obtained. Ten acres of forest so felled would give a return of (say) £40 the first year, and from £60 to £80 the second year; from this would have to be deducted expenses of cutting and threshing, but probably one-third would cover this item. If the selector cut and threshed himself, or by a system of return labour, he would page 32 appropriate the whole, less the cost of sending to market. This is a result that could not be attained in open land by a similar outlay, as the procedure would be more costly in the way of ploughing, harrowing, and fencing, and no crop of a profitable character could be obtained during the first year. It is therefore evident that to the hard-working man with small means the bush is the easiest to make a start. There are drawbacks in the way of bad roads, and the rather dreary aspect of a new bush clearing; but these are gradually overcome as settlement progresses. The Government has now undertaken the first rough clearing of the bush roads, such as felling, logging, and making culverts, &c.; the annual local rates under local control supplementing the Government aid. The forest is generally felled in September, October, and November; the earlier felling being fit to burn in January or the beginning of February, and the latter felling burnt in March. But, in fact, bush can be felled when it suits the convenience of the owner, from June to the end of November, thus giving the working man the opportunity of spending his spare time in doing his own work, when a more profitable job is not obtainable. Asa general rule, contract work can be had in the district, local public works, general public works, or private work, giving the small holder the opportunity of making both ends meet, while his forest allotment is being gradually converted into a farm.

What a contrast there is between England and this Colony at the present time with regard to the labouring class! In England there are "lock-outs" in the agricultural districts; mills closed, or the hands working half-time at reduced wages in the manufacturing parts; whilst in the mining districts all works are stopped, and the greatest distress exists among all sections of the working population. Kent is a county which, through being so close to the metropolis, is one of the richest districts in England. Her lands are fat; her yeomen live in small palaces; her farmers are men with "fair round bellies" of content and comfort; and her hop growers page 33 drink port instead of beer. Herpoor devil of an agricultural labourer, however, with a wife and six children to keep, lives at the other end of the scale. Two shillings to two and twopence a day is all the taste of Paradise he gets; and by our late papers we see that there is a threatened lock-out in that district, which is a horror that will darken many a door there, this winter. This background of home misery that is likely to ensue this Christmas forms a striking contrast with the prosperity in this Colony. Instead of mills being closed, as at home, for want of work, they will be closed here for want of labor; instead of "lock-out" we hear piteous cries from the farmers to save their harvest at any price; instead of the labouring man sinking, it is his own fault if he does not become a wealthy landowner. To those in the Colony, it seems a matter of surprise that people at home should, year after year, endure so much misery and privation, when they might better themselves by emigrating to this Colony.