COUNTRY HOMES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1783, 23 June 1913, Page 4

COUNTRY HOMES.

.CHANCE FOR THE POOR MAN. A small block of land which the Government has acquired at Willowbridge, in South Canterbury, is to bo utilised for small settlement on a plan of which the Priinc Minister has great hopes, and which he thinks may be usefully applied to suitable areas in various parts of' tho Dominion. Tlio principal merit of the proposal is that it offers to working men who jxissess very little capital a 'chance of securing a comfortable country homo and of quickly placing themselves beyond tlio reach of, at any rate, immediate want. The proposal is that the Government shall buiTd houses upon sections of 5 acres or thereabouts, and offer the sections fo suitable persons, with tho option of acquiring the freehold. Tho purchaser would secure possession by paying a small deposit of about «C3O and engage to pay for his holding by easy instalments, on the deferred payment system. • At Willowbridge there are twelve of these sections, and purchasers for most of v them liavo already been found. Much is hoped from this class of settlement liecauso it will assist a. deserving class of country workers, who cannot start upon anv more ambitious scale. A fiveacre holding is a very small farm, but for settlements of this class good land on or near a railway line would be selected, as has Iwen done in the ease of Willowbridge. In these circumstances intensive cultivation would be possible, and would pay, and tho settlers would bo within *asy reach of markets and of places of employment where, at suitable seasons, they could supplement the returns from their own holdings by outside wages. The land in the area purchased is first-class land, particularly suitable for intense cultivation. If tho holders feel so inclined, they, may use the land for orchards or gardens, and so make a comfortable living off it without outside employment.