LAND SETTLEMENT.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4811, 16 February 1925, Page 3

LAND SETTLEMENT.

SOUTH AUCKLAND PROBLEMS. MINISTER'S INVESTIGATION. Interview on his return from an inspection of the South Auckland district the Hon. A. D. McLeod, Minister for Lands, stated that his tour had been both interesting and instructive. He knew before leaving Wellington that he would be called upon to investigate land settlement problems more difficult of solution than those obtaining in almost any other part of the Dominion. “The various places visited.” said Mr McLeod, ‘‘involved travel by motor-car over a total dis- • tar.ee of over 1300 miles, which wns accomplished in less than three weeks, and often over roads which, to say the least, were atrocious. A variety of difficulties obtain over the . wide area traversed, among the chief of which arc land drainage, deterioration into fern and second growth, inability to’ finance, and the dealing with lands —both private and State — still undeveloped. DRAINAGE AREAS. "Taking drainage first, there are, ‘‘ in both the large areas comprising the H.auraki and the Rangitaiki plains, problems which are not easy of immediate solution. As in all ventures of a more or less problematical nature, the State and its employees - come in for a. considerable amount of s criticism, much of it undeserved. The great bulk of the drainage operations of the past which have turned out successful have been, generally speaking, carried out where the fall ' for drainage purposes gave greater margins than obtain in either of the swamps mentioned. Again, the component matter which goes’ toward? the • building up of peat is now proved to vary enormously, according to the nature of the surrounding hill lands whence the swamps are fed. The percolation of water from limestone or . papa hills apparently leaves an amount of sediment throughout peat areas varying from 20 per cent, to 60 per cent., according to the distance from hills or river banks ; and when * drained the subsidence which follows is equal, approximately, to the waste matter contained in the peat. “Thus it is common in such swamps to find that land showing perhaps 15 feet of peat will find a solid .and per- , manent grassable surface after subsiding, say, ten feet. In the Hauraki and Rangitaiki areas, however, over a greater area than even was anticipated either by practical farmers or skilled engineers, the subsidence is proving to be up to 90 per cent, and 95 per cent, of the original depth of i-.eat. until sea level,' and in some cases a point below, is reached before a foundation is reached. It is now ’mown that the unstable nature of the detritus, etc., coming from pumice hills leaves little or nothing in the ■ 7 peat areas as a body for soil formation. The point is now taised that this should have’been known to engineers ; but laboratory tests (sucli as are now being taken) over almost every hundred yards or so are the only means of arriving at a correct estimate of the probable subsidence in swamp lands. "Settlers on the Rangitaiki area in patricular, having a wide knowledge of swamp lands, purchased both freehold and Native lands at extremely high prices; and to-day, as the result of flood overflow's, some of the sections are nothing but ponding areas for months at a time. It is feared that with further subsidence the ponding may become permanent unless pumping is resorted to; but generally speaking that system of reclamatipn is regarded as an unpayable proposition. Of course, there is a considerable area of good land within the Rangitaiki Plains which can be kept, permanently dry, but it is certain that the area cannot carry the load of interest and maintenance i ates together with interest charges upon bona fide improvement loans borrowed by the settlers. - I say bona tide loans for the reason that large mortgagee still exist in the shape of unpaid balances of purchase moneys, and these in my opinion, as far as •values are concerned, may be written oil as worthless. How the State and private losses are to be met and the position adjusted is a matter for imme’di.ate investigation and legislation, and I propose to bring the question before Cabinet at as early a date as passible. DETERIORATED LANDS. "Then there is the question of dealing with those lands which have deteriorated through going back into a second growth of fern, scrub, etc. : but as this is being investigated by a commission of experts 1 will not refer to the difficulty here, except to say that the need for something being done without delay is obvious, and that it is receiving the Government's earnest attention. CATTLE-SICK AREAS. "Next in order comes the problem of areas more or less condemned as being either cattle or sheep sick. These areas are almost impsosible of exact locution, even by the residents of affected localities. Many settlers , are loud in their complaints against the State Advances Office in respect of lending; and, .although it may be said that the office in question is inclined. to place a ban on wide areas, only portions of which are definitely proved to be ‘sick,’ !■ cannot disagree with the department's statement that the office was instituted, and is still being carried on, not as a source from which-to draw finance for more or less ‘doubtful experiments, but for bona tide lending at cheap rates upon sound securities. In other words, experi- . menting in doubtful securities is not

■ Hip true function of the State Advances Department, or even of an ( ‘ agricultural bank, which a few so ’ fondly cherish as a possible avenue of escape from unenviable circumstances. How to help a settler with finance on a security of which he himself is floi'.btful is a problem ®ot easy of soiution. Still, I admit that things cannot long remain as at present in the badly affected areas, and some effort will

require to be made to find experimental finance if settlers are to remain on their holdings. During recent years considerable expense has been inclined by the Lands Department in providing change paddocks, etc., in an attempt to solve or alleviate the difficulty of stock sickness, and some of the settlers are of opinion that this method should be still further extended, while just as many are definitely of opinion that it is only a waste of money. PUMICE AREA PROBLEM. “Lastly, there Is the question of the settlement of wide area? of entirely undeveloped fern lands in the pumice area. That development is possible can hardly be gainsaid in face of the work done in isolated localities by such men as Mr Earle Vaile <fhd others. The keynote of success, however. appears to lie in the use of cheap fertilisers, which in most localities are impossible to obtain under present road and rail facilities. Another undoubted drawback to successful settlement is the large area freeholded from the Natives by syndicates and individuals, upon which little or no development has taken place, and for wnich prices ranging from 39s to £5 an acre are being asked. I feci sure that no development can take place at such prices under present conditions, and it is certainly not the policy of the Government to give extended road and rail facilities to men holding large area? for purely speculative purposes. My own opinion of the hinds in question is that ss, and not £5. an acre is nearer the true value under present conditions, if development is to take place at all upon the ploughable lands referred to I feel sure it can only be accomplished in areas not exceeding 500 acres or less ; and it is my intention to further investigate the holding of large tracts of wholly unimproved lands. The large area istill held by Natives is also a problem, where the growth of noxious weeds in some localities is, to say the least, alarming.

“By the foregoing it might be assumed tliat 1 hold a very poor opinion of the South Auckland Lands? in general. But that is not the case. With malice aforethought, I selected a tour which would take me through as many as possible of the ’davget zones’ of a large land district, and n going from one point to another I saw much that would please the heart ofi any fanner or any Minister in the shape of smiling homesteads, splendid pastures, and sleek-tskinned dairy-at-tle of high standard. Auckland’s output of butter-fat in various forpis gives ample proof of its great productivity.”