RURAL CANTERBURY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 156, 27 March 1919, Page 5

RURAL CANTERBURY

CLOSER- /SETTLEMENT PROBLEMS,

By Telceranh-Press Association.. ~ .. Christchurch, March "6 Speaking a the Canterbury PrWe.s League Junction, the .Hon. G. W Rus sell said that Christchurch, by its en yironments, its surroundings, its in! >rSed a, a d fi i nf- roUmi «>"- 1 -f? }, •ft nel(1 f( »' persons to cnnir with their families and settle not pos ion, but when he came to look uii wv rural districts of Canterbury/extei d g from Kaikoura to Waitaki there wn, * dl ? ?, ot ej *=eetl 250,000. Tliov would ask themselves this question,.»t«rb,irj ami} „„, J,,,,,"-, IX J I he closer settlement, for one th L If !3f'.n,!:4 h ',£'»,lV ! cultivate it adequately was fail,V ?n bis duty, and it would be for t e Go ernmen t<, take some action. 'V j"' of big holdings must a | SO em] ll £ were not cult rated as, the requi emenh th^ n D " m,mon (lorai " l <led. Before tie war 110,000 men were, engaged in thn agricultural industry. Of that mU many had gone to the war, and T, would not return. The qn iff Se the country waj as to how to «pai t°» gaps and ,ncrea M the population. Men from other parts had seen what splen. did eoldiers New Zealaiulers were and many would, no doubt, wish to rome to a conrtpy that bred such men Bu? he believed the best population N e Zealand could have was that which t produced itself Concessions must not be g, V en to outsiders before thoi in B'de had first benefited. The 1917 had disclosed that 54 per cent o the Population lived in citiesYnd town S nficant. Were there any means by which the Ws of the towns and cities could be shifted out and turned into country men? He had in mind the establishment of farms near towns where boys could Iμ .taken to we the actual oomlihnr-s of farm life, with a view to encouraging them to follow .'igriculturil and pastoral pursuits.