LAND HUNGER,

Hokitika Guardian, 2 March 1920, Page 3

LAND HUNGER,

I (N.Z. Times). That the Massey Government lias not done, and is not doing, anything 1 10 like all that is necessary in the A\;ay of lfJ providing land for returned soldiers l ( ’ and other would-be settlers, is clearly 10 shown by the outspoken comments jr passed at a recent meeting of the Auck'land Provinicial Executive of the Nbav c _ Zealand Farmers’ Union. Unless, inj. deed, there Avas real cause for comv plaint, such a meeting is the very last' at which one Avould expect telling iS criticism of the GoA-ernment in regard to soldier-settlement. The executive ,8 . J carried —and, in our opinion, rightly e carried—a motion roque-.l ir.g the Go\--I eminent to keep the L* armors’ Union ( posted in regard to immigration, so that the union could help in placing people avlio might come out from the r Old Country. Immigration of the right class of people is, in fact, absoP lutely essential if the great developj mental Avorks, hydro-electric, and j. otliei-Avi.se, of the reconstruction period I aro to he carried out with due speed, efficiency, and economy, and if the" in* ’ creased production required to meet be secured. A statement issued by the’. | Defence Department last Aveek slioavs ( ■ that our expenditure out of t‘ e War , 1 Expenses Account from the beginning ! of the Avar up to December 31st, 1919, amounted to over £71,680,000, a, very serious .addition to the Dominion’s pro-, ‘ Avar debt of, in round figures 100 mil- | lions sterling; and when everthing is - brought to account, our total national ! debt cannot fall far short of 200 mil- : lions, constituting an extremely oner- j os burden for little more than a mil* j lion people. Manifestly, therefore, to ' help us to bear this burden—indeed, if { only to help to make up the Avar loss . of 16,000 to 17,000 of the best and j I bravest of bur men, to say nothing ot I the thousands more totally or partially j ’ incapacitattd—a vigorous immigration I policy is needed. i * That the ''Auckland Provinicial Exe- j * cutive of the New Zealand Farmers’ a Union recognises the necessity for such ; 11 a policy is shown by its carrying tho * resolution referred to. But it recognises also that Avitli a vigorous immi- 11 gration policy there must go hand in hand a more vigorous and effective land settlement policy. Mr P. Keegan, for example, strongly protested ’ against the organisation of the Ncav f Zealand Farmers’ Union being used to . 1 place men from other countries on the ! land when our own men cannot get land. After every ballot, he pointed p out, there are 200 to 250 people disap- 4 pointed—people avlio Avould make admirable settlers ; and .he declared that yi while that hunger is unsatisfied the C( Government is not doing its duty. Mr IV. H. Allen, again, stated that many j t returned solditrs have failed several \ times to get on the land; and the result is that they* are “full up of the j, Avhole thing.” It should, surely, be sufficiently obvious, even to a “Roi form” Government that, in face of £ such conditions, a vigorous immigration policy would he grossly unfair, not only to the returned soldiers and to other New Zealanders avlio desire j to settle on tho land, but also to the I immigrants themselves; more especial-j ly as one of the chief inducements jy held out to them to come here is that I j{ land can be obtained much more easily yj in this country than at Home. This ! „ is not, to say, hmvever, that a vigorous j immigration policy is Avrong. It is, ' m on the contrary, both right and neees* j sary. But equally necessary—if not, j indeed, more necessary—is a truly CC] rigorous land policy that will put an f 0 end to the machinations of the land y], aggregator, loosen the fell grip of the I land monopolist, and throw- open for j soldier-settlers, for other Ncav Zealand settlers, and for all-comers —for our . motto then might rvell be: “Let ’em ! nil come”—the millions of acres of | valuable land now held idle, or only , very poorly used. •