SOLDIER SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 204, 17 May 1918, Page 8

SOLDIER SETTLEMENT

. FARMERS' UNION REMITS. The' matter of soldier settlement is the subject of a large number: of Temita: from branches of the Farmers' Union, to tho eighteenth annual provincial conference, ■which opens at Auckland on Monday, May 27. Alii the remits protest against, the Government method of purchasing large areas of highly-priced land for subdivision, when there is so much unimproved Crown land available for settlement The Huntly West branch remit suggests that if special circumstances should necessitate the purchase of improTcd land for soldiers the Government pnrohase the land from those farmers who are called up for military service and are thereby compelled to sell their farms. Other recommendations include tlio appointing of farmers' boards, in an advisory capacity, to report on suitable land for soldier settlement; the bringing into production of the virgin Crown lands! of the Dominion either by giving employment to returned soldiers under experienced supervisors or by utilising alien labour at soldiers' rates of pay; and placing tho interests of returned soldiers who are lessees of Native lands on a basis similar to that of soldiers who are lessees rf Crown lands. 'Die suggestion is also made that in the event of the Government taking up a Mock of land for soldier settlement the State' should fa,rm the property for a period with soldier labour, and if proved suitable for soldier settlement the land should be offered first to the soldiers who have been employed in developing it.'