The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1920. MEETING AN OBLIGATION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 205, 25 May 1920, Page 6

The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1920. MEETING AN OBLIGATION

As a,' progress report on the work of repatriation, the statement by the Minister of Lauds, which appeared yesterday, makes in some respects very satisfactory reading. Thero is, of course, no question of jailing a halt until all claims by retrtrned soldiers, whether for assistance' in land settlement or in jther directions, have been fairly , net, and it is much to bo regretted ihat tho Government has been cornjelled during the last few weeks to mpose temporary limitations on tdvances to soldier-settlers. With Parliament meeting next month, t may' be, hoped that any delay md inconvenience thus occasioned will be of brief deration. The iovcrnment and Parliament arc, if course, bound to make promptly vhatcver additional financial provision is necessary to enable the vork of repatriation to be carried >n with all possible expedition. Phe_ Dominion's obligation to the oldiers who served it so well ,is in 10 way affected by the fact that it vill be somewhat less easy now to nake this provision than when here was a big surplus of accumuated revenue to draw upon. Up ,o the present New Zealand's re;ord in repatriation will compare vith that of any other country, and uiblic opinion assuredly would lot tolerate any slackening of the ifforfc that is required to round off jreditably what has already been IBcomplished. _ No doubt an early ipportunity will be taken of givng Parliament some idea of the neasure of _ assistanco still called 'or. In' view of the big figures ilrcady touched in land settlement and other aspects of repatrialion work, there ought to bo no ;reat difficulty in . presenting a : airly comprehensive statement of mtstanding liabilities. Me. Guthue's statement showed that thus far 18,959 men in all have been assisted n various ways at a cost of 217,384,954. Of the total number learly seven thousand have been iottled on rural land, and about the lame number have boon granted oans for the purchase of townIwellings. In addition, 12,345 exoldiers have been .financially asisted in different ways, nearly 1*7,000 lave been placed in employment, ind 5319 have undergone, or are now ■cceiving training. On top of this he Lands . Department has purshased and is preparing for settleuent an area of 206,000 acres, which iught to provide .holdings for beween 700 and 800 soldier-settlers., Remembering that a considerable iroportion of the returned men tand in no need of assistance, hese figures ought to mean that the irorlc of repatriation has been car•ied well forward towards compleion. In any soldiers who lave been compelled to • exorcise lationce are, of course, entitled to xq,ctly the same consideration as hose already provided for. As a whole, the record promises roll. The extension of settlement ;nd subdivision implied in the esablishment of so many ex-soldiera, in the land ought in itself to lead o a marked increase in primary Production during the next year or wo, and as information stands the najority of the soldier-settlers have eason.to be satisfied with the condiions under which they have taken ip their holdings. At the same ime a proportion at least of the nen who have taken advantage of he facilities for training provided iy the .Repatriation Department fill exchange the. status of unskilled or that of skilled workers, to their >wn benefit and that of the'Dominon. So far as land settlement is ioncerned, the least satisfactory eature is the comparatively minor ilace taken by tho settlement of Jrown. lands. Out of '6858 men ettled up to the present on rural ands only 899 have taken up Crown >r National Endowment lands. No loubt the extensive- purchase of omewhal; high-priced private lands the only obvious way in which he' Government could meet with casonable expedition the deniauds tf soldier-settlers for. improved arms in areas served by roads or ■ailways, but it may be hoped that he settlement of outlying areas will ake a more important placo in the otal scheme as it is carried towards completion. Going hand-in-iand with a really enterprising dorelopm_ent policy, settlement on hese.lines need impose no undue tardships on young and able-bodied ettlers, and ought to offer them an ippreciably better'start in life, and romise better results for the counry, than settlement of lands purbased from private owners. The >ossibilities of development and ;roup settlement on a co-ordinated >lan havo hardly as yet been serimsly tested in New Zealand. Anither line of activity Hint may siniilify tho remaining problems of nol-lier-scttlement and make at the ame time for general progress is he systematic promotion of differnt forms of intensivo cultivation. ?ull Investigation ought to be made irfo the possibility of introducing

new forms of primary production which would enable land to be used and cultivated with profit in small areas. It might be worth while in this connection to take a lead from Australia. Under the auspices of the Commonwealth repatriation authorities a party of one hundred •A.I.F. men was delegated some time ago to make an extended tour of Europe and America, and undertake such a study of rural industries as might lead to an extension of agricultural enterprise in their own country. The party is at present in California, and it is confidently predicted that the tour will load to.highly important results. The systematic forestry which is to be expected in this country now that an expert Department of Forestry has been organised offers the Government another means of creating openings for ex-soldiers who incline to rural pursuits If forestry is fiikefc up on anything like the scale that is desirable, manyopportunities will appear of permanently establishing ex-soldiers nnder satisfactory conditions, and this applies not only to the able-bodied, but to some of those who are physically incapacitated for ordinary farming pursuits. _ Though repatriation will of necessity proceed in part on' the lines hitherto such opportunities of broadening its scope and useful effect certainly ought not to be neglected.