SWAMP LANDS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5117, 22 April 1927, Page 4

SWAMP LANDS.

DEVELOPMENT IN DRAINAGE. STATEMENT BY MINISTER, In the course of his speech at Thames on his recent visit to the district the Minister of Lands (the Hon. A. D. McLeod) made the following statement in connection with the drainage of swamp lands:---“I wish to refer for a few minutes to swamp development in our own Dominion, undertaken by governments ,as far back as 1907 under the direction and supervision of a branch of the Lands Department. Although, no great, forward movement was made by this sub-department prior to 1910 or 1911. the most capable officers lor this class of work were selected, and the cost of several large undertakings (almost entirely within the Auckland province) was estimated and the work subsequently undertaken. With the advent of the war, which quickly brought about an increase of 50 to 100 per. cent, (and in some instances even more) in the cost of labour, machinery, finance, and other necessities for such undertakings, pre-war estimates went by the board. The Hauraki, Rangitaiki, Waihi, Hi.kurangi, and Kaitaia operations will have cost before the date of completion (which it is now anticipated will be in the course of the next five years), with added interest charges, not less than £2 000,000'. This will be the case .even if’the large subsidiary expenditures as suggested by the Patetonga committee of inquiry, together with additional expenditures from time to time urged by deputations, are not undertaken. With my officers I have investigated the whole position sufficiently to be able to say that it will be necessary to write off not less than one-half of the foregoing amount including the. amounts already dealt with, in Rangitaiki, Waihi, and Kaitaia. This is a large amount, but I confidently believe that the general taxpayers of the Dominion will ultimately be compensated by the increased population and production insulting from the work. The real difficulty, however, in whiclh 1. find myself as minister in’ charge, i,s the providing of the large sums necessary for the speedy completion of these undertakings, and at the same time provide finance for new development work of a more or less similar nature. There has to be a cleaning up process at some time or another, and 1 personally belong to the school which believes in facing a position as sopn as it is definitely known. If I have a fault to find with my predecessors, it is that adequate provision was not made against ultimate writingsoff as the works proceeded. The writ-ings-off in a short period of a million or more, consisting largely of interest accrued when a work is completed, exposes a Minister and his officers to a degree of criticism which an annual , subsidy towards specified works of say, eighty or a hundred thousand pounds per annum would prevent. Enngineering history goes to show that in all countries such as these are of a highly problematical nature as to their ability to carry full interest charges, ajnd it is most unjust and unfair to throw upon constructional or develppineiital officer* an interest-earning obligation which they know can only be produced indirectly. ] know the necessity of keeping the officers up to the mark, but I know also the demoralising effect of throwing upon them the responsibility of impossible tasks. If it is the wish of the general taxpayers that these uoibtful interestearning proposals be undertaken for the general good, then it is the duty of the Government and Parliament to see that adequate provision is made against probable, losses as works proceed. This has been fully realised by recent governments, and as a. result transfers of considerable amounts have been made from the consolidated fund to the Public Works fund. 1 believe, however, that instead of one vote, being made direct to the Public Works fund, specified sums should be allocated as annual surpluses permit towards certain development works. This, after all, may be a detail, but it would at least let the public know eac.li year how much was being set aside for special works, and to what extent the various portions of the Dominion were participating. I was not long in office as Minister of Lands before 1 came to the conclusion, after investigating the position throughout the Dominion, that ne.xt to completing the development undertakings already on hand, the greatest need was to provide a maximum amount to enhance the funds of the Advances to Settlers Office, so that as many as possible of those already on the land might be kept there, in preference to expending more or less doubtful character. The, settling of additional population on the land is an important matter, but in my opinion it falls far. short in importance for the moment of stabilising the position as far as possible of those already o n thu, land, and to that end every effort is being put forth by the Government. To croak about people having paid top much for their land may in some respects be. pardonable ; but how far is such croaking getting us ? Nowhere ! [There are thousands of armchair critics who apparently can point to the reason for the present depression, but how few there, are who are able to make a sensible suggestion for. a solution. It is humorous to read of attempts' made by spine people to Cast upon other shoulders what is more or less everyone’s responsibility. When it is stated that more production is needed every finger is pointed towards the man on the land, with the cry that he should get busy and produce more. Even to-day the farmer is doing wonders in that respect, and in the maim it is taking him and his family twelve 'hours a day to do it. I do not suggest that those in other walks of life should be asked to accept less wages or remuneration ; but I do think that the slogan ‘more production* is being accepted in fae main in its narrowest sense. It is a slogan for ns all, and not for the, farmers alone, and means that everyone should do more and save more in return fop, the wages,

salaries, incomes, and dividends received. At the moment we may seem to be rather ‘up against it,’ but in my opinion the country is all right if all sections of the community put forward their best efforts. There are, in my opinion, altogether too many ‘rocking the boat,” when pulling the pars is what is wanted.”