SOLDIER SETTLERS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3131, 9 July 1917, Page 4

SOLDIER SETTLERS

An t encouraging account of th progress made in settling soldiers oi the land was given at the Rcturnci Soldiers ' Club on Thursday night Particular interest attaches to th< observations of Mil. A. P. What max, who is well qualified, as i practical fanner oE long experience to- speak with authority in regan to t-ne conditions in which the sol dicr settlers are now working am their prospects for the future. Mi: Whatman's assurance that the set tiers whom he recently visited ari in a fair way to pake good is a sat isfactory indication that the Gov eminent is attacking on right line: the- problem of establishing returnee soldiers on country holdings. It i: quite evident that as yet only tin fringe of the problem has beer Louchcd, but in its scope the sucecsi achieved appears to be definite Some hundreds of returned soldier: have been provided with holdings and have prospects of doing well though on the figures and estimate: submitted by Mr. Whatman it scomi likely that the loan of £500 grantee 3y the Government to settlers o: this class will have to be materially increased. There is sound sense h ilie proposal that advisory boards insisting of farmers, should be sol ip in the various disfcricts,not onlj ;o assist the Government in select ng and purchasing suitable land nit to assist the soldier settlors witl iclvice. In order that the best re iiilts may be obtained under this arrangement it' is obviously desiriblc that the soldier-settlers should 1C established as far-as possible ir [rbups. While- a measure of success iv settling soldiers on the land is ■easonably .assured, it is to be recoglised that in its total scope_ th( jroblem raised is that of providing iot hundreds but thousands of solHers with land. The estimate thai it the end of the war ton thousand x-members of the New .Zealand Ex>edifcionary Force will bo seeking Loldings is perhaps not exaggerated, nit it is obvious that no such mini>cr of would-be settlers will be accommodated unless the Government ilans and acts boldly, in auticipa,ion of the coming demand. It will not be a simple matter tc ibtain land expcditiously and in .ufficicntly large areas to adequatey meet the prospective demand, and 'he difficulty of the task will be inxmsificd if Sir , Joseph Ward ie mywhere near the mark in his estiiiate that only six months will be ipent in bringing home .the New Zealand troops when hostilities have cased. This estimate may be optinistic, but in any case the- Governnenb is called upon to find, in the "gregato, a very large area- of land i'ifchin a comparatively limited leriod. In dealing with the probem a clear distinction will havq to ic drawn between returned soldiers v\\o are- able-bodied and those who .re not. A certain number of men i'ho come- back more or less disabled may desire to take up counry life. The State is bound to irovido for such men and to meet heir desires as far as is reasonably .ossiblo by establishing them on imited areas of Rood land and in imilar ways. But in its .largest spect tho problem of soldier--ee-t----icment is that of providing holdngs for physically fit men able ana rilling to carve out homes for themelvcs in the less developed areas _ol -he Dominion. Mr. Whatman fa'ours a proposal that land held in arge areas should be taken at preirai- valuation and paid for in war,onds bearing interest at tho rate ,f 4i per cent. Manifestly, howver " this arrangement would most ininstly penalise the owners of land elected for acquisition. It may be ■eerettablo that land values have ■isen as a result of the high prices (btainecl for produce during the var period, but the evil would not ie cured by subjecting particular inlividuals to a heavy penalty trom vhich the rest of tho country was miTiuno. Account must be taken ilso of the fact that some owners ot and have bought at inflated values .inee the outbreak of war. It is ibviously in the interests ot reiurned soldiors who take up land ,hat their holdings should bear as ow an initial valuation as possible. i man with little capital or none vho takes up an improved holding it an inflated valuation is at best mbarking on a risky venture. Asuming that he is physically fit, he vould have much hotter prospects on \. bush section, where he could supjlcmcnt his resources by a certain .mount of road-making and similar rork In the circumstances the exensivc acquisition of more or less mproved lands hardly commends itolf as the best method of providing or the. soldier-settlers who will preen tly be returning to New Zealand. )no of tho moans of meeting such a lemand is represented in the- large vwibf Native lands still lying idle nd unused. Here the Government night speedily obtain land for solliers under conritions oftering )rospects of successful settlement, [here need be no difficulty in openns this land expeditiously in the equired areas if the procedure were idoptod of taking it over in b o.cks, t a fair valuation, leaving all doail questions of compensation to be cttlod later. An active policy in ■efcrence- to Native lands seems to iffcr a possible solution of tho probem of soldier settlement.