The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY,MAY 19,1917. OUR SERIAL ARTICLE.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 19 May 1917, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY,MAY 19,1917. OUR SERIAL ARTICLE.

At the risk of being deemed tiresome, we return to the subject o£ closer settlement for Levin district. The township of Levin will remain a village for all time unless the lands in its vicinity become more closely settled and worked to more productive ends than at present. The production of wool and hides, mutton and beef is a profitable pursuit in these days, and the townspeople owe thanks to those settlers whose skilled conduct of these pursuits lias caused' great inflow of capital to tlieee parts, with resulting .profitable trade for .all local businesses. Some tracts of land in the neighborhood will be sheep and cattle runs for perhaps a hundred years to come: tliey are adaptable for little else in the present state of farming, whatever the future may prove. Apart' from these, however, there are lands in this district which would yield profitable livings from every thirty acres. Intensive culture, if practised by trained gardeners and apiarists, would enable a flamily to gain a comfortable living from ten or even five acres of the best land. These; are but truisms to people who observe and read and understand; but a truism of wliicli no use is made is of little or no avail. Wliiat is needed to-day is an association for advancement of iLevin's collective interests in this matter. The defunct Progress Association did a good deal in this way some five or six years ago; but the novelty of success and the jaundiced criticisms of a typo of local commentator that objects to anyone deriving individual benefit incidental to the town's larger share resulted in the association ceasing to be. Consequently, the township of Levin lias been marking time on the march to Progress for half a decade. (Now is the time to resume a forward movement. There is a present need by the Government for thousands of acres of suitable land for subdivision, now that the soldiers wlio have <Jone tli'eir duty are returning to JS T ew Zealand to settle. It cannot be reiterated too often that Levin's proximity to Wellington and the available areas of land suitable for subdivision afford her an undoubted advantage in the race for that- civia prosperity that eprings from well-setled environs of aJ municipality. It is always a regrettable I event when the communal need forces the acquirement of a run or farm that has been built up by a lifetime of personal effort; but always there is the solatium that a life thus Bpent acquires its ease, and the monetary backing requisite for full enjoyment orf retirement early that the owner Would have chosen for himeelf, and both the community and the; disposseessed one are mutually advantaged.