The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1919. SOLDIER SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 202, 21 May 1919, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1919. SOLDIER SETTLEMENT

By his recent statements on the subject of soldier settlement, the Minister of Lands has done something to disarm criticism. In view 'of tiio difficulties by which he and his Department are faced the progress shown to date is creditable. More than 'a thousand soldiers have already been assisted to acquire rural land—the Minister, of Internal Affairs on Saturday last gave the current total as 1300—and the establishment of'this number of settlers, if it has been carried out on sound lines, implies a great deal of good work. In some respects, however, Mb. Guthrie's statement of the position is inconclusive, and rio really definite assurance has yet been given that the Land Department is prepared to cope with the rapidly-expanding demand for country holdings which must be anticipated in view of the rate ati which our troops are coming home. It is, of course, obvious that if justice is to be done to intending soldier settlers- who have the same claim to consideration as those already provided with holdings, the acquisition and opening of land will have to be ,expedited very considerably. As the Department comes to deal with an increasing- proportion of thoroughly fit men the opening of Crown lands will no doubt take a more important place than hitherto-in the total settlement scheme. A very, large number of soldier settlers will still have to be provided for, however, by the purchase and subdivision of ■private lands, and on the facts in sight tho Department is far from being prepared as it ought to bo to 'rarjidly expand its operations under this head.

In opening the conference of Commissioners of Grown Lands, which sat in Wellington recently, the Minister of Lands frankly admitted that in existing circumstances the Land Purchase' Board is seriously overtaxed. This, of course, is not surprising. The board was constituted _to_ deal with the acquisition of a limited number of estates in each yeai> It is now expected, as Mb. Guthrie himself observed, to inspect' and purchase three or four properties per week. It is somewhat astonishing that the necessity of developing temporarily a purchasing organisation capable of coping with the extraordinary demands of the soldier settlement period was not recognised and met many months dgo. The readjustment so obviously called for certainly ought to be carried out without any further delay. There is no' reason why the Minister should allow himself to be restricted at any point by a procedure which was devised to meet entirely different circumstances. It is necessary, of course, to maintain reasonable standards of uniformity in land purchase transactions in all parts of the Dominion. It is essential also, alike in the interests of the State and in those "of prospective settlers, to take, all possible, care Hot to pay.' more for land than it is worth. _ These points are overlooked .at. times by those who urge that in land for soldiers the Government should rely largely or chiefly upon local advisory committees. But it ought to be quite possible, without dispensing with essential safeguards, to extend the land purchase' organisation so as to greatly accelerate the current rate of progress. The first step in that direction obviously is'to divide, and distribute the impossible load now imposed on the Land Purchase Board. Until the demand of soldier, settlers is satisfied there might very well be two Land Purchase Inspectors instead of one, and the board or boaras acting with these officials should ha remodelled as far as_ may be necessary to permit undivided concentration upon the promotion of soldier settlement. If this doubling of ; tho central purchasing authority is deemed impracticable, it would presumably bo .necessary to rely entirely upon the freest possible delegation of authority to district authorities, and more especially to the various Commissioners of Crown Lands. Such delegation of authority ought to be effected' in any case. So long as uniform standards are maintained and adequate safeguards, established, it can hardly be necessary that every transaction should be examined in detail by the Land Purchase Board. \ ' Such a readjustment as is here suggested is perhaps being carried out. At Palmcrston North on Monday Mi:. Guthrie stated that lie had managed to put "a capable outside man", on each Land Board, and was also arranging to set up an advisory committeo in each district. It has yet to appear, however, that really comprehensive measures are being taken to expedite the acquisition of land, and unless this is done thero will undoubtedly be serious congestion, and the Department will find itself faced by demands from soldier settlers which it is unable to satisfy. Already there are some complaints of undue delay and of neglect to acquire suitablo areas, and the only way to prevent such complaints being multiplied is to develop a more effective land purchase organisation. Failure, to do this at an earlier stage seems to represent the most serious defect in a scheme o c soldier settlement which .otherwise is well and liberally planned, but it is on this_ account all the more necessary that it should be promptly remedied. One of the btst features of the scheme is the provision made in tho Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act to enable one or more soldiers to apply to a district Land Board to acquire any private land on their behalf. As in the case of direct acquisition bv tho Government, however, such

transactions nro subject to approval by the Minister and the Land Purchase Board, and it is evident that settlement under this plan will be 'seriously hampered unless means are, provided of dealing expeditiously with a large number of purchase proposals. The adjustment, which would enable the Department to broaden and expedite its purchase operations would modify an important detail difficulty by making it possible to reduce the period of three months for which an owner is required to give an option over his property when its acquisition is contemplated by the Government. While much depends upon the purchase of private land under sound conditions, there does not seem to be any reason why a largenumber of soldiers should not be I settled on Crown lands and also on undeveloped Native lands acquired by the Government. In this connection roading is of great importance. In his recent speech Mb. Guthrie urged the desirability of roading all lands before they were taken up by settlers, and stated that wherevei possible this policy would be pursued in reference to sections taken up by soldiers. It is undoubtedly essentia! that in all cases reasonable means of access should be provided beforehand, but in some cases it may' be advisable and helpful to allow soldier settlers _ to augment their resources for a time by engaging in road construction works in the vicinity of their holdings. No doubt many of them would lie glad to in this way ease their financial problems. On the whole, and in spite of the criticism'to whieh.it is subjected, . the soldiers' settlement scheme seems to promise reasonably well. It is to be hoped that the Minister will be able to announce soon that measures have been taken to strengthen such features of the scheme as betray weakness, particiir larly the arrangements'made for the purchase of private land.