TE MIRO SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 256, 17 July 1918, Page 6

TE MIRO SETTLEMENT

» DIFFICULTIES OF ACCESS QUESTION OF TRAINING MEN it 'J'lio conditions under which soldiereeltlors are working on the To Miro settlement, near Cambridge, have been investigated by Mr. !?. Hodge, of iiemuora. ill - , Hodgo was recently uppointed honorary adviser in connection with settlement questions to (he Auckland Returned Soldiers' .A.-seeiiuion. Referring to the recent criticism of the settlement by Mr. IJ. H. Hammond, president of the Wnikato farmers' Union, Mr. Hodge writes:— "Mr. Hammond's statement that the soldier settlers at 'L'e Miro were going t<> bo 'mangled,' etc., mudn without any qualification, is calculated to do considerable harm by making tlie settlers dissatisfied, and causing an uneasy feeling in the public mind that they are being badly treated. The Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association requested me, as a practical farmer, to visit Te Miro mid report, to them. "Tlio land is of good quality. The settlers I met. were quite satisfied i.n that respect, it has been better cultivated, but allowed to go back. One disadvantage they labour under is commencing tneir operations in the fall of the year, thus having to do all their heavy cart.ng and preparatory work in the winter, turning the soft road into a quagmire. This is no unusual thing at this time of the year, but entails considerable loss of time and extra expense. Workmen are engaged on a new road which, when completed, will give the settlers easier access to their properties. "From Mr. Hammond's lemaiks outsiders would infer that the soldiers were 'dumped' 011 the loud by the Government, and then left to shift for themselves, but the Government finance them to the extent of from .£SO to X'iso, supply them with fencing and building materials, implements and stock, adding tho cost to the capital value of their sections, for which they pay 5 per cent, interest, and pay them for any work they may do 011 their sections, so as to enable them to live until their land becomes productive. "The success of some of the sections is already assured, and they . have been established oi\ly a few months. In time the others will be successful also, bad roads will improve with tho change of season, rabbits will disappear before closer settlement, and tho same pluck and , energy that carried them through greater difficulties will stand by them now. "It would have been a great advantage to those without experience had they taken situations on farms before taking up land. It is poor policy to buy your cows at the beginning of winter, even if they arc a little cheaper; they only eat the feed for nothing, one or two die, and t'i y co-t ini-v.; u 'lie end. Better to conserve the feed until spring, and then buy your stock and start right awny. If the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce will assist the settlers oyer their initial difficulties it will be doing a good work, and will be money well spent." MR. HAMMOND'S REPLY < (To the Editor.) Sir,—l have read Mr. Guthrie's reply , to my reference 'to the above, and have been unable to reply earlier owing to the necessary investigation of certain statements made by Mr. Hodge. I fully appreciate the Minister's individual difficulties in 'the matters of detail on any particular settlement Whether these ai'c beyond the capabilities of the Commissioner's Department I am unable to say* The Minister says that I lave suggested no improvement. At the proper time was any invited? When his Department has succeeded in making practically evory soldier disgusted with tho conditions surrounding his venture it is full late to ask for suggestions. Fortunately the men realise that the land, under suitable and (equally necessary treatment promises satisfactory results, even if the difficulties confronting thein at the present, and which will do so for some months to come, are insurmountable. The main suggestions I would make to •tho Minister in cases of futuro settlement a.re to weigh carefully the hardships accompanying bad roads, with duo regard to the necessary efforts of men discharged as physically unfit. Also to obtain the services of some practical farmer or farmers at the time of selection of properties; men with a knowledge of the requirements'peculiar to tlio ; particular districts. 111 this piirtieu--1 lar case it would have been possible to eliminate the main difficulties. Every blade of rough feed would have been conserved .instead of stripping tho cosjitry out with 200 horses prior to tho ■ ballot, in order that the Department's funds might be swelled to the extent of -£12 10s. per week. Had this been dono the men would have been able to go on . to tho market in June for their'cows at prices ranging from JGII to o£li. In 1 October, winch is the earliest date that the feed will be there, they will pay i upwards of ,£2O. Further, the carrying . capacity of the road would have been carefully taken into consideration, and > when ail estimate had been made of the j requirements of tweuty-ono sections drawing entirely off the Maungalcawa • Road, which in building material, con- ! Crete, and manures, exceeds 400 tons, the carting would have been insisted upon while a road was still in existence. With ! these two matters alone attended to, the I men would hove had a Hying start into , the season, instead of having to fight " their way into it at an unprofitable time. In passing, I might say that while prac- ' tical men are procurable for 'this purpose, and for the purpose of advising , the men in their operations, it is most necessary that they would have the necessary status. The" average man who has ' got on the top side of things is scarcely " prepared to exchange his timo, experi- 1 | ence, and advico for a Departmental ' yawn. With the feed in tho paddocks and pe materials on the ground these incn • would have had ample time to have erected their own buildings or given assist- ' ance where the absence of practical i knowledge prevented their doing so; by this means considerably reducing tho 1 cost in this connection, which has varied in amounts up to <£80, and what is more important than all, theso discharged 1 men, to whom we made promises 110 less 1 impressive than those made on the front • lines by our Prime Minister a fortnight 1 ag would not be lying out in tents during 1 six weeks 'of tho worst weather tho Wnikato has experienced for many years. Under these conditions tlio men would 1 have had .a level chance instead of being horrassed by difficulties from daylight to dark, nc»t the least of which is the s uncertainty surrounding Iheir dealings 1 with the Department. Only yesterday • morning, 011 coming round a bend of the road, f was me! with the sight of a broken cart, about fifty yards further on part of a strong wagon, the balance having been hauled down the rond till a width was reached which would enable other fated vehicles to ;jass. Less than half a mile further 011 1 came 011 a group of settlers digging nut the second ivagon within thirty yards of tho first • which had been stuck the previous nighv. In one. case four strong horses were spending themselves in the effort to draw 1 a load of 15cwt. of cement. One of tlio ; drivers told me that his feed for nic live horses last week cost him <E5 Ts. (Id. If the Minister ls still prepared to accept a suggestion. I would recommend ■that the soldiers b? itscrucled to have their requirements brought to the end of tho metal road at the Sanatorium, which is two antl a half miles from the settlement. This will tako time, as the Cambridge carriers are unable to devote more than a share of their time to tt;is work. A few railway tarpaulins could be procured and used to cover such things as manures and cement. When this in?been completed a bullock team should be procured, mid the material carted or sledged on to the settlement without this last cost being charged to the soldiers.' I find Mr. Hodge's letter difficult to attach importance to owing to peculiarities surrounding his investigation. I have seen most of (ho settlers belonging to the main settlement, and can find only two men who have either seen or heard of him. Owing to tho interchange of services among these men, which briugs them frequently into contact with each other, this is difficult to understand. There is the possibility that I ■ havo failed to meet the very men I whom Mr. Hodge has interviewed, which,

of course, would account I'or it. How- T over, I understand tluit; the soldiers, per 1 medium of 'their association, are endeavouring to get at the facts of the case. Mr. Hodge's statement that Government Una oce men to tho extent of .£SOO to ,C70I), supply them with fencing nnd building materials, implements, and . stock, is misleading. The Department c does not supply building material, im- „ plements, etc., in addition to the JiSOfl. £ II is policy of buying stock is opposed io j the fundamental principle governing advantageous buying, that, of being able to do so when (he other felow can't. ft is possible that 1 have the advantage of Mr. Hodge in fixing a standard of hardship, having gone into blackbloeks shortly after the surveyors came out, nml having applied my personal efforts over a period of eighteen venrs.—T am, etc., E. H. HAM.UON'D, President: N.Z. TTarmars' Union, W'aikato Sub-l.'rovineial District. r —- '