SOLDIERS ON THE LAND

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2840, 3 August 1916, Page 8

SOLDIERS ON THE LAND

THE PROBLEM OF ADVANCES

INTERESTING DISCUSSION

At the last meeting of tho Advisory Board of tho Federated Patriotic Societies of New Zealand the following resolutions were passed and subsequently Submitted to.the Prime Minister:— ' (1) "That the Prime Minister be approached with a view of amending the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act, 1915, so as to permit of advances being made for all or any of the purposes set out in Section 6, not only upon land available under that Act, but also upon other lands obtained by purchase or lease either from the Government or . privately." It was also decided to further urge the amending of the Act so as to provide that tho benefits of the Act may be extended to cover soldiers who have been or may be incapacitated while in camp or discharged owing to accident or illness, provided that such accident or illness is not traceable to something which has occurred prior to enlistment. The Prime Minister was further asked to secure legislation establishing a moratorium so as to give absolute protection to soldiers in respect of property owned by them upon which money is owing, unless the Judge of the Supreme Court otherwise directs. In reply, the Prime Minister (under date July 21) wrote to the Jx>ard as follows >— "In reply to your letter I have to state that the representations made have received careful consideration, and the provisions of Section 6 of the prin. cipal Act'Telating to financial assistance to discharged soldiers have bc-en extend. Ed by the passing of Section i of the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act, 1916. Financial assistance may now be given to any -discharged soldier who may bs or may hereafter become the lessee or licensee of any Crown or settlement, land or any other land administered bv a Land Board. As you are of course aivaro financial assistance could formerly only be given to those soldiers who ."- select under the special tenures. With regard to the resolution suggesting the establishment of-a moratorium so as to give absolute protection to soldiers, 1 have to state that members'of the Exnedi-tic-nary Force are ..already fully .protected against their liability for the cap.'tw . amount ■of all mortgages owing bv them, and the term "mortgage" includes in this connection all securities over personal property as well as over land i-rom the wording of the resolution of the Advisory Board, I am not aware whether it is intended that legislation should go further than this. If, however, the-proposal is that soldiers should be relieved'of liability for interest, rent, rates etc., I am not aware of any reason which would justify so far-reaching an invasion of private rights. I should think that the members of the Expeditionary Force are sufficiently self-reliant not to need special legislative protection of this kind, nnd that m any special .cases of hardship the patriotic societies themselves would be in a position to afford the necessary relief. ]f, however, the Advisory Board has based its recommendation, on any evidence in its possession showing cases of oppressive con. duct of landlords or other creditors against soldiers or their families, the Government will give such cases every consideration, if evidence to this effect is placed before them. In conclusion, I desire to express my appreciation of the interest taken in this matter by the Advisory Board, and will be at all times pleased to supply auv further information which may be. desired.-(Signed) \V. F. Massey." .In the brief discussion which followed there were sharp differences of opinion as to whether a society should make advances at all. Mr. Lnrner (Auckland) said that his society had set its face resolutely against making advances to returned soldiers. . They afforded them relief, but that was not advancing big sums of money on lands or anv other business. The 'difficulty of assisting those men who wished to settle on land •outside their own districts was freelv voiced. ' ' Mr. Hopo-Gibbdns (Wanganui) said' that the Wanganui Society had a case before tliem of a man who .wished -to go fruit-farming in Auckland. They did not even know whether ho knew anything about fruit-growing, ami they had hesitated about giving assistance to men who were beyond then reach, and quite out of touch of the committee. Mr. E. H. Williams (Hawked Bay) said that this assisting of men 4o go on the land was u very big question, thac should be considered very carefully before they got too deep into the matter. Fruit-growing, which had bceu ;iic:it'.oned by Mr. ilope-Uibbous, was an cxpbi't business, and men nad to know all ammt blights and how to deal with them, about the nature of the diilercnt trees and soils before they could hope to make a do of it. . If it Had not been for tho extraordinarily good prices obtained during Hie last few years, many of the farmers in his district would have gone to the wall, Then, again, there were the sons of pioneers who sat in their clubs all duy and employed managers to run their farms. Those men were not strictly farmers. It was pure luck with them. Mr. Tripp said that farmer friends of his had told him that a man should not be allowed to go on 'the land without live years' experience. Mr. Hope-Gibbons (Wanganui) took the opposite view, and .quoted the large number of people who had gone on tho land in the Wanganui district without any previous experience in farming, and very few of them had sot made a success of it. A member: An exceptional district. • Mr. Hope-Gibbons, did not know that the district was exceptional, but he had a close knowledge of it for .'ls years, and he knew uf very few failures in farming in the district. Mr. J. J. Dougall (Christchurch) spoke of the trouble they had experienced in getting men to go on the land. One man they had placed, returned to them and said that he simply, could not stand the loneliness of the life. . Mr.' Williams: It's the best life in New Zealand. Mr. Dougall said they could have placed fifty men on the land recently, but they could not get the men to go'. Mr. V. Lamer said that the matter of these returned men was only a sideissue. There was a bigger question ahead, to which they should give attention. That was the time when, some •10,000 men, neither sick or wounded, would be coming back, ready and fit to do good work. The chairman 6aid • that the question was a very complex one, that they could not hope to settle right away, and which would take n great deal of very sorious thought. He suggested that a committee should be set up to go into the matter. The committee appointed were: Messrs. Williams, Dougall, Tripp, HopeGibbons, and the chairman. It was given out that ideas on the subject from any of the patriotic societies would be welcomed by the' sub-committee.