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Hokitika Guardian, 7 June 1923, Page 2

Aenoros of the .subject just touched upon, there is often the disposition with officials to endeavour to take advantage of the soldiers where they are endeavoring to make good. Many soldiers have failed in the tasks which they have undertaken, and much Government money lias been lost in consequence. But the primary cause for this was not with the soldier, but with the Department which put the men on land too costly to carry on when a depressed market came. The Government bought land at peak prices, and expected the soldier to pay peak rents and charges through slump seasons. The men did their best. They strove gallantly. But in numerous eases they had to walk ofT their farms, with empty pockets. Instances of this nature, have prejudiced the official mind, hut wo repeat, the primary cause for the difficulty did not rest with the men, but with those who were responsible. in providing dear land for soldier occupation. The same tiling applied, too, to many men rushed into trades or businesses. The men were not fitted for the work and the welfare department of tho Government was lacking in its task of seeing that the men in such instances received adequate advice. And so there were failures and losses.

A covri.K of eases have been mentioned locally where the officials seek to take it out of the soldiers. There is the largo milling proposition at Woodstock, wherein some Thirteen ex-soldiers are involved. The men were, given a good start and made good, lint in making good they appear to have made a mistake, for the Department socks to take more out of them. The royalty charged at tho outset, and which was understood to rover the whole block of timber reserved for the soldiers, was Is 3d. It is proposed now to jump it to 2s por 100 feet. When the timber trade was good the timber the men were putting on tho market realised about 245. Now orders are scarce, and prices lower, and with a drop to 17s 6d they are expected to pay 2s. The milling proposition is a payable one only because oi a. second milling area they hare in the north whence wide hoards are drawn. The wider product helps to sell the small timber culled from tho Woodstock area, but the Department declines to recognise this point, nor in fnct to argue the case on its merits. The result is the attempt to inflict an injustice on the returned men who arc doing their best to make good—a. very had example of how the official mind is disposed to act at times.

Then there is the c.'iso of the lads oh a farm, which is wanted for a foiestry nursery. ’J iic men on the land are dairying, using the land now profitably for settlement purposes, and there has been the promise that where land is required for settlement purposes it will he respected in legat'd to forestry operations. Hut politicians’ pledges readily become broken promises. The men on the land are making good and do not wish to abandon their holding, yet the ’Government talk of turning them off. Mr O’Brien .M.J’., lias visited the locality and inspected the holding, and is satisfied there is room in the neighborhood for both the dairy farm and the nursery. It is hoped matters will be adjusted satisfactorily without unduly penalising the men. It is not right that they should suffer to satisfy the whim of a Department nor to gratify a local demand merely for Government expenditure. It will be a. rollection on the community if the desire for greed overrides ft sense of fair play to the men who have their home and occupation on the land, and who are making good with their own labor and resources. That seems to be the position, and in fairness to those most, concerned—the men on the land—they should have the first consideration.