IMPROVED FARM SETTLERS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 386, 12 August 1911, Page 5

IMPROVED FARM SETTLERS.

SUED FOR NECESSARIES

SOME PITIFUL CASES. At the Magistrate's Court on Thursday, three Improved Farm settlers from Tanigtu were arraigned on judgment summonses for failing to have paid for the actual necessaries of life. The first to come forward was a man who stated that since May last he had only earned £3 12s from the Public Works Department. His Worship: Where have you been working in the meantime'' Witness: [ nave been improving my farm.

His Worship: What have you been doing? Witness: Planting fruit trees, fencing and felling bush. His Worship: You are practically i.nproving your place at your cred : - tors' expense.

Mrßroadfot: That is it in a nutshell, si . The business people of Waimiha, Te Kuiti and Otorohanga are improving the farms uf these improved farm settlers.

Witness here stated that he had a wife and eight children to support. His Worship made an order of 5s per week. The second settler to be asked by his Worship why he had not paid his account was a man who stated he had had bad luck, by falling over a bank on to a matai stump, with the result that he was laid up in the Hospital for some time. He was an improved farm settler, and to go or. his land when allocated to him, it cost him £39 16s to bring his family there. "Anyhow, your Worship, I have never been before the Court on a matter of this kind before. lam 36 years in New Zealand, and I have been a pioneer right through the piece. That of course was my misfortune, but I have

REARED A FAMILY OF THIRTEEN

children, which have cost me to date £4BOO. I have done more than that. I have done duty to New Zealand by fighting for it. As a man of experience I wish to state, your , Worship that the co-operative system of work which is given to us in these Improved Farm settlements has many weak links. For instance, the Government will only allow us to earn 8s per day, and I ask how am I going to support my wife and seven children who are at home on such a wage when I have got to pay 12s per cvvt to have my food supplies packed from Waimaha station to my section. In the good old days of Sir Harry Atkinson, if a man earned 20s a day he got it. Today you can do what you like, but

YOU CAN ONLY EARN Ss"

Continuing, defendant said the account against him was for meat, and misfortune had ruled that he had been unable to pay for it, and he and his wife and family had had no meat for a long time. They had been living on tea and bread. The position was that the Government rushed them on to the land fully knowing their position, and once they got them there they didn't care whether they starved or not. "Your Worship, I am a poorer man to-day than I was 36 years ago."

His Worship : I believe you are an honest man, and a hard working settler. I will not make an order. I would advise you, however, if possible, to pay the debt when you can.

Defendant: If I am only given the time I will do so.

The third man was cited to appear for a debt of 19s Ud, and when his Worship noted the amount and the fact that the total debt was £i 7s Id, brought about by the costs and mileage, he remarked to counsel that the fact of a business man spending £8 odd to get 19s from a poor unfortunate was astounding. "The plaintiff to my mind is using the law TO OPPRESS THIS MAN." The action was bordering on the extreme. It would have been more businesslike to have written the matter off the books. Mr Broadfoot: There must have been something underlying to tempt the plaintiffs to do so. His Worship: I don't see the force of such business. If men in a back blocks district were going to be given credit, the recovery of it should not be 300 per cent. This man had been brought a distance of twenty mile to defend 19s. I am of opinion that business people should not embark so much capital in recovering trivial amounts It would be better if butchers buried their meat than go to such cost. Addressing defendant: Can you pay the debt?

Defendant: lam behind. I have

NOT QUITE AVERAGED £2

per week in earnings for the past year, and my wife has been seven months in the Hospital. This case was also a summons from a butcher for the supply of meat. His Worship refused to make an order. Mr Broadfoot: After these settlers have tried all the. shops they will starve. At this juncture, the father of thirteen came from the back of the Court and reminded Mr Broadfoot that although he and his family were practically starving in the back-blocks, he would be able later to liquidate any liabilities he had incurred.