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Hokitika Guardian, 2 August 1926, Page 2

; The period of depression which is now more or less serious in different parts of the Domiuioun is a reminder that New Zealand should be steadily liuild- ■ ing for a permanent future. Thero have been periods of depression before, and looking back tit the past experience, they were the - times when circumstances forced on the country the necessity of doing things for its own salvation. There are those who believe that the shortest road to prosperity is by the expansion of industrial enter- . prises, which will attract more population. Australia has been quoted as an example where industrial development has been attended hv satisfactory trading results. As a manufacturing country, the industrial returns are superior to those of pastoral pursuits by many millions annually. A'et we know that Australia is a vast country of great pastoral possibilities. Probably the manufacturing side has had the greater attention, hut it is conceivable with so great country it should he passible for the pastoral turnover to outstrip very easily what the country can produce, in manufactured articles. This may he a new day. bringing new conditions, but the land is with us always, and there must he for all time a demand for what the land can produce. In the early days, settlement was the great thing, but as the cities grew their progress outpaced the ad vaneement on the land, and the town had a superior attraction t-o the country. But as national strength comes from the working of the land, it is essential the main social and political • effort should be to place more people on the land. This country had a very satisfactory experience with its land for settlement scheme, and the results justify further advance in that respect. Other countries have had their useful experiences with land settlement schemes, and there . is'much that is tangible upon which Now Zealand might work in a forward development land scheme. It seems to ho an ac--cepted state of affairs that the value of produce must fall, and the economic cure for that- is to produce more to bring the aggregate return over and above the former wealth production. To do so, one aid would he more people on the land, and this suggests an active revival of the land for settlement policy coupled with closer settlement. So far, the Minister of Lands (Mr McLeod) has been rather negative in his actions and statements, but while it is recognised there are as there must lie, difficulties, the Minister is expected to overcome the difficulties and pursue a line of action, which will reinedv the position. To continue, inactive, is to -throw up the sponge just at the time when more than ever, there is the nefed for a. definite line of land policy.