LAND SETTLEMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 60, 8 September 1926, Page 12

LAND SETTLEMENT

DIFFICULT PROBLEMS

ABANDONED FARMS

SOLUTION. NOT IN SIGHT.

The difficulties facing the Government in the settlement of land "were discussed in the House of Representatives yesterday when the Land for Settlement Eeport was presented. Mr. J. C. Eolleston (Waitomo) said that he thought a great deal more could be done in the settlement of waste lands. The Minister had stated that if would cost £2500 to put a settler on virgin land, and that he was very doubtful whether such expenditure was justified. A very great deal of the land was rapidly_ becoming a liability on the State through being over-run with rabbits and noxious weeds. He urged, the Minister to tackle the question as rapidly as possible. Mr". Eolleston. stressed the necessity of putting men on the virgin lands. A man who undertook virgin land undertook no mean task, and he was deserving of every assistance. SECOND-CLASS LANDS. The only way to open up secondclass land, said Mr. H. M. Campbell (Hawkes Bay)> was to put men with some means on the laud and give them security of tenure,. The Hon. D. Buddo (Kaiapoi) supported the views expressed by Mr. Campbell. The only way to encourage land settlement, so far as people with small means were concerned, was to put them on good land. Mr. W. S. Glenn (Bangitikei) said that a very big problem faced the ( Minister of Lands in New Zealand. i The difficulty of dealing with noxious1 weeds pnd pests was in itself a very big problem, although the Minister of Lands was not actually responsible for that. The whole question was whether they were going to settle the poorer class landa. If it could not lie done economically, then they should consider whether they should not plant trees at £2 an acre. There was need for eo-operatibn between the Ministers of Lands and Agriculture. Mr. A.'Hamilton-(Wallace) remarked that it was being said that many landa were not settled as it cost too much to put people on them and that tlie costs of production were too high. While some people said that it had to be admitted that other landa were too cheap. We were getting dangerously near the point where a man was not getting sufficient reward for the improvements he effected on la,nd. It would be wise not to allow Capital and Labour to be better rewarded in other directions than in' improving land. In reply, the Hon. A. D. M'Leod (Minister of Lands) said that his experience had shown there was little chance of settling a man much under £4000. ' Mr. P. N. Bartram (Grey Lynn): "Publish that at Home." The Minister: "I'll leave the honourable gentleman. to do that. I have no doubt he will." The points men: tioned: by Mr. Bolleston were important, and the solution of the problems must be found. He had found that in Waitomo and other districts some men h(id more land than they really required. When they wanted to sell a portion they found that mortgagees would not 'split the . mortgages up. He would like to have some means whereby mortgages could be split in a manner that would assist those who wanted to get rid of a part of their burden. If he could,do so ho would frame legislation on tiio point, but not this session, of course. He admitted that what Mr. Hamilton said about improvements was true, and it was also a fact that the ■ costs of production had gone up tremendously. SOLDIERS' DIFFICULTIES. Speaking of the abandonment of farms, Mr. M'Leod said that he had 200 abandoned farms in. the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Account. Of that number over 150 were located in the Auckland, part of the Nelson-Wcstland, and a portion in the northern part of the Wellington land districts —up the Wanganui Eiver. The'remaining 30 or 40 were scattered over the' rest of New Zealand. There was a real difficult}', and the most of the land in the North Auckland and Auckland districts was not land purchased at a high price, but Crown land purchased thirty years ago. The men who had been settled on these abandoned lands were not "duds," but soldiers who knew all about land. Thosa lands were back on the Government's hands. How they were to be settled without writing-off not a third, but a tremendous lot, had to be discovered. It.was useless, however, to go throwing good money. after bad until they had found better means of dealing with the problem than they had to-day Beferring to what Mr. Campbell had said, the Minister, said ■ that it was very difficult to get men to invest in second-class land. Mr. Campbell: "Give them a little security." The Minister said that the restrictions- as to area, which were rightly put into the law, must be maintained as far as the freehold was concerned. This country could not afford to allow aggregation of large holdings to go on again.. , ■ _^^