MAKING FRUIT FARMS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 906, 27 August 1910, Page 8

MAKING FRUIT FARMS.

;■;: USE' OF /PRISON .LABOUR. '(■ ; ; d; ; .m/';FINI)LATS -SCHEME.' ' : ■'- •■;. During, a tour. through the- North iof .Auckland 'Peninsula .recently '. tho: Iffinistef.'for"Justice '(the Hon. Dr. Findlay) made a /suggestion for utilising ■ prison ' labour for the preparation of .poor-land for fruit-growing; : This proposal,worked considerable opposition, from' (fruitgrowers throughout the Do- : ! minion on. the ground that, the .'com-, i : petition ■ of prison labour ,would reduce, .their.-profitk.-.,:Speaking in'tie Legis- . lative: : Counfeil yesterday Dr. iFindlay explained: his'proposal -in., greater do;tail and replied to'the objections urged to it....North of• Auckland,- Dr. .Findlaj said,/thero' was a. : largo, area of.'land lying waste and he had suggested using prison';labour, tor; prepare combined fruit and .dairy farms in.that district. It" was mostly-owned by Maoris. ,tjn;der , tliQ ■present /circumstances... men ■wero ;chary of'.goihg-.upon : it,' because capital was required to develop it.' It . was suitable for fruit-growing, but , the : cost of '^making: it productive --by free ■■labour- ' was;.' prohibitive... .-Under his scheme two hundred farms 01, fifty acres .each ; would- be prepared .to begin .Tvithj .the work, would be supervised by skilled supervisors from prison camps, and roads,' etc.," would be constructed. .On each farm about 7J- to ..fifteen acres would be'put down in fruit, an area in .vines and the rest in pasture. Starting ■.with ; ten thousand acres and employing ; one. hundred"■ prisoners, '-.ho', estimated /that after four years he would have -five hundred acres a year available for settlement'.' .Under his proposal this five -hundred .acres would be: cut up into, farms:'of from,' twenty-seven, or thirty.acres to .75.acres. There seemed little doubt that upon that area so well ■ adapted, was tho 'district for fruitr ; growing, that. a. good living couM'.bo ; made'. • In preparing these farms' reformative'works would be provided by a certain number of prisoners. The effect of: this , would probably'be indefinitely to. postpone 'a. scheme which was in tho best interest of the Dominion. . .■' .'.',. Iri; conclusion Dr. Findlay said ( his' proposal had; drawn 'nothing but condemnation from fruitgrowers. : ., . 'J '-."• A member of. tho Council: 60 on -with the scheme. "\ ' .'. ; ■ Dr.. Findlay: Well, when the hon. gentleman is./ Minister for Justice. I , nope he will take it up.' . ••'" y-