PLAINS SOLDIER SETTLERS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4334, 26 October 1921, Page 2

PLAINS SOLDIER SETTLERS.

Some queer anomalies in land values are disclosed in the report of Parliamentary debates which is published in this issue under the heading of “The Plains Soldier Settlers.” Lands on one side of a road are valued at £6 per acre, and on the other side at £2O. The Member for Ohinemuri is on safe ground when he states that in some early cases of soldier settlement on the Plains the areas were too large and the values too high, which facts he warned the Minister of Lands about at the time the sections were thrown open for selection. In fairness to the Government it may be allowed that few people realised that lands on the’Plains were going to rise in value from £5 to over £lOO per acre. If such tremendous rises had been antici--pated there would not have been any 25Q-acre blocks for soldiers. But the facts must be taken as they stand to-day, and it seems tolerably certain that many an

unfortunate soldier-settler will have to lose his. , holding, or the greater part of it, and earn his living by making drains for his more fortunate fellows. This was certainly not the nation’s intention towards its ex-soldiers. Mistakes have been made, and while such errors of judgment or failure of foresight may be condoned under the circumstances, it is certainly a grossly unfair proposition that soldier-settlers should have to pay the piper. A strong and united agitation is needed on behalf of those who have done well for their King' and country on the battlefield, and who are, therefore, deserving of the nation’s protection in their present predicament.