SOLDIER SETTLEMENTS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4618, 29 October 1923, Page 2

SOLDIER SETTLEMENTS.

CONDITIONS ON THE PLAINS. VALUATIONS TOO HIGH. A meeting of settlers was held in the Kaihere Hall on Friday, the 19th inst., in order to consider the position of the returned soldiers on settlements in the surrounding district, Mr E. W. Harris presided over a large attendance. The chairman, in his opening remarks, emphasised the fact that immediate action was necessary to prevent many of the soldiers from abandoning their holdings as many of them were finding it almost impossible to carry on in face of the existing conditions. The grievances could be summed up under three main headings: (1) The capital value of the land was unreasonably high; (2) a very large proportion of the peat country was worthless and could not be brought into profit; and (3) the principle on which money was advanced for stock and improvements was inequitable, inasmuch as that a man with a 200-acre section could not obtain more than a man possessing 40 acres. The soldiers present were invited to state their own individual experiences on their farms, and interesting, and in many cases distressing, facts were brought to light. A' soldier from the Ngarua Road settlement stated that he had to cut up his farm into 10 acre paddocks in order to drain it, but even so the land had not resppnded to the drainage, for the surface became waterlogged and the pasture rotted out. He would have to divide his farm into 5-acre paddocks. The land had been very expensive to bring in, and will cost considerably more to maintain as on this country, it costs about 10s per chain a year to keep the drains in order owing tp the peat in the bottom of the drains continually coming up. This soldier declared that if he had to employ outside labour to keep his drains in order it would cost him £l2O a year. If he has to sub-divide his paddocks again it would cost him £240; He stressed the fact that this land was bought by the Government very cheaply, but the soldiers were charged £2O for it, though similar, and in some cases even better, country adjoining was ballotted to civilians for from £6 to £lO an acre.

These statements were corroborated by civilian farmers who were amongst the first settlers in the district. Mr T. McLoughlin stated that in his opinion the soldiers had been treated very unfairly, and though his section was as good as any on the Ngarua Road it had cost him only £lO an acre. He considered that no land on the Ngarua Road settlement should be valued at more than £lO an acre, the sections on the Mangawhero Settlement at more than £4 an acre, while as for those on the Patetonga, Settlement, their valuation should be computed at a minus quantity. He stated that a large area of peat farther out on the Plains had been cut up and was ready for the ballot, but if a man was compelled to live on one of those sections and given £lO an acre to live on it he would die of starvation.

Similar conditions prevail on the Mangawhero Settlement, where the land will not drain, for when stock is put on the peat becomes packed and it is an impossibility to do anything with the land. Some of the soldiers on this settlement have had to contend with almost insurmountable difficulties. The statements made here may seem incredible, but they were corroborated by so many that their truthfulness connot be doubted. In one case a settler, has drained his section into 2%-acre blocks, the farm being described as a mass of water courses. Even so, he could not get a hack on to many of these blocks. The drains collapse and close up in two years, and require not only cleaning and deepening, but also rewidening. The adjacent Government drains are the same. As soon as. the cows leave the edge of the drains they have to spend most of their time swimming, and have been justly classed as “submarine” cows. One settler cannot get his cows to the byre at all, but has been compelled tp erect a temporary byre near the road where he and his wife do the milking. Instead of being asked to pay rent and interest the settlers should really be paid for having the courage to remain on the sections, many of which are only 7ft above sea-level, with 19ft of peat above the clay. .Thus, if the rate at which the peat is sinking continues, the time is not far distant when much of the peat land comprising the Mangawhero Settlement will be turned into a lagoon. On the Patetonga Tramline settlement the conditions are even worse. Mr J. M. Wallace emphasised the great difference that existed between the prices for civilian and soldiers land. The Government could not be unaware of the conditions, for insome cases soldiers had been offered other sections when it was recognised that their farms were worthless. Civilians should .-stress the fact that valuations were based on boom prices, and should .insist on substantial reductions in the capital values and compensation for those who had been compelled to abandon their holdings. Other settlers spoke in the same strain, particular emphasis being laid on the fact that the quality of the land on the fringe of the Plains that was originally settled could not; bo taken as a basis for the valuation pf land farther out. Round the foothills for a certain distance out into the peat the creeks, especially in times of flood, had spread out, and through continuous heavy deposits of silt had built up first-class land. But beyond this belt of silt the peat was no good, and on being drained and stocked, settled down into the form of a sponge. A suggestion that met with favour was that a local representative who was conversant with the conditions should be placed on the revaluation committee, or, alternatively, tha<t a deputation of local civilians should meet the revaluation committee in order to explain the position and give the members

some idea pf the conditions that prevaU. This suggestion was made because it was recognised that the committee would probably visit the settlements during the summer months, when there was a little grass to be seen and the sections were reasonably dry, but it would be necessary to inspect the sections during the wet months of (the year before it was possible to obtain any idea of what difficulties the settlers had to contend with and what deplorable conditions they worked under. After the position had been fully discussed the following resolution, moved by Mr J. ML Wallace and seconded by Mr T. McLoughlin, was carried unanimously:— "That this meeting of civilian settlers, being aware of the conditions under which the soldier settlers of this district are labouring, express the wish: (1) That there will be a speedy revaluation of soldier settlements ; (2) that soldiers who have been compelled to leave their farms owing to the poor quality of their land and owing to conditions whicn they could noti contend against, be compensated by being placed on land on which they have a chance of being reasonably successful; (3) that soldiers be placed on the same footing as civilian settlers under the Advances to Settlers Act, and that they have the same opportunities under the new Act of borrowing 75 per cent, on their improvements up to £3500.”'