LAND SETTLEMENT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 92, 23 July 1943, Page 2

LAND SETTLEMENT

"NO SCOPE FOR ANY LONGRANGE SCHEME" THE REHABILITATION QUESTION "After the last war the land was looked to very largely for rehabilitation. At present there is no scope for large-scale new land settlement, as in the intervening quarter of a century development of suitable lands has proceeded apace, and only limited areas of undeveloped land are still available," states the president, Mr W. \V. Mu'.holiand, in the course of his address at the annual conference of the New Zealand farmers' Union in Wellington. "In looking at the possibility of

further sub-division of lands, whether for rehabilitation or otherwise, certain facts need to be clearly realised. 'Small Holdings,' as that term is properly used,, must be limited to situations where soil, climate and available markets, make successful intensive: cultivation possible. Market gardening is one of our best ■known forms of iarming 'small holdings,' and obviously any considerable extension of this would result in a larger supply of such produce than the available market could possibly absorb, with disastrous, results to the settlers. "The possibility of developing markets for the produce of 'small holdings' should be explored very fully,, but the greatest caution must be exercised, and optimism not allowed to displace commonsense."