Prosperity.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 440, 12 April 1890, Page 3

Prosperity.

[TO THZ EDITOR.] Sib,—Ever since the advent of New Zealand as a British colony the people have been using their best endeavors to attain ” prosperity.” When those who bad visited the newly discovered ielands early in the forties, or at the latter end of the thirties, made known their researches on their going back to England, steps were at once taken to form companies for the purpose of placing people on the land, that both the worker and capitalist might prosper. But 'has it been the case ?—are we now able to stand up and assert that ws have obtained the desired effect? Unfortunately there were other agents at work, and, to our cost, we have discovered that long ere New Zealand became annexed to the British Crown whalers and others came to our chores, and in order to obtain possession of the beautiful and fertile land, adopted a system of barter with the natives, giving them axes, spades, beads, knives, pipes, blankets, tobacco, firearms, etc,, not only for a lease, or loan, of the land, but for the “fee simple,” which, of course, when things of exchange ware given as payment, in the opinion of ths Maori was equal io telling him that he was the real Owner of the soil, and had a right to sell or give all the land that he did not wish to occupy to whomsoever be pleased. In the Exhibition there Is on view an old rusty, useless cannon—and a very small one at that -

bearing a ticket indicating that it was the price paid for the Waimea Plains. Wbat would be said if I were to give a small boy a knife for a gold English levst wateh ? It may bo Mid, " The watch did not belong to the small boyto which I answer, “ Neither did the land belong to the Maoris.” New, when New Zealand became a British colony a vary bad state of things existed, which, bad it not been for those people in the early days who bartered with the natives, would never have been the case. Even so, had the Government only dealt the ovU, great U it, the death blow which it justly deserved, fctt ft iftM WftvUl fes vj

been under the sun to-day. But unfortunately wrong has been heaped upon wrong until we have got into such a labyrinth of nnoec?-sary and unworkable land laws that it will fall to the lot of some desperate session of Parliament to sweep the whole fabrication away in “ one act.” Owing to the barter which took place in the eaily days, the natives were given to understand that they were “ lord and master ” of a vast amount of territory of which they knew not the bounds, not to say the wealth.

Thousands of acres were acquired in this manner, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives were sacrificed. What but the system of barter with the natives was the cause of Heke’s war at the Bay of Islands in 184-1 ? And again, in Taranaki, in 1800, which spread into the Waikato, and lasted until about 1865, and which cost the Government thousands of pounds? In one transaction, Colonel Wakefield purchased for the New Zealand Company a block from the natives “ extending from Kawhia to Mount Egmont, and 30 miles inland, by a payment of £l5O, two horses, saddles, and bridles, and 100 red blankets.” Every place where the white man took up land in the early days, away from the towns, he had to contend with the Maori as absolute owner, and when some evil disposed Pakeha Maori would tell the native that the white man bad done” him out of his land, and that he could get it back again, the white occupier either bad notice to leave or got the tomahawk. Now, I maintain tbat such should not have been the case, and the Government should have seized the bull by the horns at the first, and strangled all crime by taking possession of the land, and declaring it to bo the “property of the State.” The land is the true secret of our present difficulty, for, ever since the passing of the first Land Act in our Parliament, there has been a Laud Act Amendment Bill every session since. Thousands of pounds have been spent, or rather wasted, and thousanus more will follow in trying to patch up our land system, which is rotten to the core. A first error was committed, and so it has continued. Hitherto, we have been sending to our Parliament some of those very men who } are, either directly or indirectly, mixed lup in the very evils that we are I trying to overcome. Some are the direct I members of money rings, while others I are only working in the interest of land I syndicates, both of which are sucking the | heart's blood out of our business men, and laborers, and causing bankruptcy and ruin throughout the length and breadth of the colony. Now, our object is prosperity, and a coming nation of independence, not necessarily absolved from the British control altogether, but that we may be out of the hands of money rings and land grabbers, and the only way we can get the object achieved is by sending to our Parliament men who have the courage of their opinions, by telling ns the bold truth; i.e., that our land system is the clog to progress and that wo must have the land in the cheapest manner

possible, and that cheap land means cheap produce and high wages, which will result in a general prosperity throughout the land. There is room enough in New Zealand for thousands more of people, and every facility should be offered in the way of cheap land. We are both growing and walking over untold wealth, only waiting to be developed, and manufactured into articles of commerce, and it would have been done long ago had it not been for those comparatively few who monopolise the land. There are persons who buy land very cheap, shut it up, then cause a “ boom,” make a fortune, and then comes the bad part of it—they usually clear out and take the hard cash with them, after they have made a fabulous profit. Large estates are a clog to progress, and such cannot be remedied while the present system of tenure obtains, for a number of small farmers may sell all their farms to the one man, who may, if he chooses, make one vast estate of the whole, but nationalisation would effectually prevent that becoming the case. Farmers buying land are often tempted to raise a loan on their land, though it is not at all times compulsory, but once in the clutches of the octopus, the Bank, he generally sucks the body dry, picks the bones, and then sells them •’ without reserve,” and continues to pay a dividend of from 12 to 15 per cent., the great bulk of the money usually going to England, though if we behave ourselves we may have it back again in the shape of loans, whereby we are to pay a further interest on it in the shape of a tax. Not only do we pay a tax for borrowed money, bnt if we take into consideration the amount of imported goods which we consume, we will see that we are sending away a very large amount of our hard earned money, and our circulating medium being sent'away a scarcity ensues, hence the depression. Why our drink bill alone—in round numbers, costs us about two millions and a half of money every year, and such a large amount for so few people is monstrous. Think of it, ponder over it, and say— •’ It we must have the spirits, let us make them ourselves.” We are able to grow corn enough, surely. Now, I contend that nothing but our land laws have driven the people from our shores, for we have climate to suit all sorts of people, soil that will grow everything needful, minerals, timber, meat and wool in abundance and to snare; so what else can be the cause ? In 1871 there was taken out of the Thames goldfield £1.188,708 worth of gold, and still the colony is laboring under a heavy public debt, instead of being in a happy and prosperous position. Now, ere it be too late, we must do something in order that we may be delivered from the depression under which we are laboring, and that very soon. The most essential point is cheap land, and the only way to obtain cheap land is by making land the property of the State, buy up all the available land in the colony, and go in for perpetual leasing of land. Then in place of a man sinking all his capital in land, he will have it to go in for improvements, and do the Banks out of their mor'gage money. We must also stop the present shameful system of importing, and stick to the present system of education, for knowledge is a great factor in the industry of a nation. As Mr DeLautour rightly put it, “We cannot expect the schoolmaster to be carpenter, blacksmith, etc,, but give the boy a good sound book learning and leave the trades to the workshops.” We must produce our own requirements and promote manufactures, by protecting our native industries. By so doing our taxes will he lessened, because if articles are made here and not imported, there will be no duty to pay. Inagurate a State Bank and divide the accumulated profits among those who produce the wealth, and don’t keep on sending away thousands of pounds annually to keep those already rich by making them still richer. Let us return men to Parliament who will conserve our rights, go in for the establishment of factories, and extend our towns by helping to assist our business men and laborers, to increase their places and make happy and comfortable homes with full and plenty for all. Then we will become a prosperous people.— l am, etc,, Pax.