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Hokitika Guardian, 14 September 1927, Page 2

Amoves the subject of land ter -etCeliieut referred to yesterday, a turtle r .statement on the matter was la lore the House by lion Air Alel.eud, which conveys the impression that the area of available Crown Lands, suitable lor intensive settlement has been depleted already. According to tho 11 1‘- ; i.e the Minister of Bauds- went oil to say: “I have completed tho investigation with my olliceis, and I am satisfied that the amount of land hit in New /_, ahead which is unoccupied, and capable of being occupied without subsidy from tho State, of some sail. : very small indeed. That is the conclusion I have ccir.e to >, under pressure of economic conditions. I am not

going to say that tids will e.intiiii! always, but .1 am satisfied that tile cost. ,f bringing the main, unoeeupied lands of the c.nmiry into ocoupatian, cx-

eept a very small percentage is hedged around with extreme financial risk." The .Minister suggested that Hie deniauds (if modern settlement were such that a (inaneial success could not be made of these lands under present ect.iiimie conditions. He had Vvory confidence that settlement would go on steadily, ami compare mere tavour.iMv with any country in the Empire. There would be times v. lien it would be difficult to make a forward move and since Hie slump of 1921 we bad

been going through that period. Every country went through a process of digging in. The .Minister said that he had failed to find ovideme of thousands < f farmers walking off their farms. The department's records showed that in 1995 there were 66,000 rural occupiers of over ten acres, and there was an incense in 19)1 ol only 5630, while in the next five years the increase was 4000 to 77,000 and in 1921 an increase of 7000 to 84,000. Tn 192 u the rural holders nundiercd 85.007, an increase of only 1000. However, the city areas had shown large development for since 1912 he found that something like 15.000 separate holdings had disappeared from the rural areas through enlargement of city boundaries. Between 1905 and 1925 the areas between 50 and 100 acres had more than doubled, showing that progress towards sub-division was constantly Ik>ing made.