LAND SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 122, 9 February 1918, Page 8

LAND SETTLEMENT

Sir,-The whole future of New Zealand will bo dependent upon tho wise settlement of its lands. It is now generally acknowledged that tho cry : ing need of the country is population, and it is only by settlement in small holdings that a remedy will be found. The time is very opportuno for considering the steps being taken by tho present Government in this connection. There is no part of New Zealand today that offers better opportunities I than Southland for successful settlement. In a recent return it is stated that there- aro 931 acres available in Southland for settlement, and wo are asked to believe by tho Minister of Lands that we aro leading tho Empire in such matters. The history of Government settloment in Southland is inglorious. It is on the wholo a record of bad judgment and inismanaginent, and it is well to try and point tho moral. The chief obstacle to progress is the lack of local knowledge possessed by land purchaso boards, and tho want of practical business men in Parliament, to devise- and control a systom under which successful settlement can be practically guaranteed. As these men are not in Parliament, it would be a wise thing to see if it were not possible to sot up local boards, composed of active, practical men who could recommend purchases of laud and methods of settling such. Presentday land hoards arc quite useless lor tins sort of thing. Ono thing is very certain, that if our lands arc to bo developed with the rapidity that tho circumstances call for, no scheme will be complete that does not provide for better financial assistance at, rensonablo rates, and this sido of land settlement calls for expert supervision and control. A member of a land board told mo recently there was no land available lor settlement in his district, and if there were, there were no men to put on it. There are thousands of acres available in that district, and suitable for successful settlement under an elastio system. . , . The possibilities of increased production in New Zealand are illimitable, and the occasion demands a vigorous policv to bring out results conimciisurato with our coming uccessity. A. thirty-five years' experience- in land, its development, and an inner knowledge of our farmers' needs and capabilities allows me to say that tho present train of thought in high quarters as regards land settlement requires leading in other directions, and new machinery requires to be in trod need. It is impossible to stress tho importance of. the subject too much. It makes ono's heart sink to learn that there arc to-day but 031 acres available for our returned men in South-

land. If that is the rate we are going to jog along at, all the world's wizards of finance will not help us out of the slough of despond into which we will land.—l am, etc., PRANK D. MORRAH. Invcrcargill, February 5, 191 S.