The Chronicle LEVIN. TUESDAY MAY 29, 1917. LAND FOR SOLDIERS.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 29 May 1917, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. TUESDAY MAY 29, 1917. LAND FOR SOLDIERS.

The X e\■ Zealand Government seems 1 resolvedi upon doing the very best it can to as-ist returned soldiers (unfit i':;r further active service) to settle to advantage on tlie lands of this dominion. In a Press Association . message from Diuiedin there are set out some facts ani possibilities of the Govern- — rnent scheme. These were supplied to the conference of returned soldiers by Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence. He said the area of private !ar.d purchased for discharged soldiers' settlement was 60,852 acres; the area 1 of Crown land set aside by proclamation lor diScha. i-gtd so diers was 264,- i 390 acres; other blocks of private land were now under negotiation, and other areas of Crowu land were being considered for proclamation,, hut the supply had been in excess of the demand. So far 357 returned soldiers had been settled and 236 obtained Government advances to enable th&m I to erect fencing, obtain stock and effect other improvements. The pres-

ent statutory limits wf 'O'ov.ui nnij.it advances (£500) had been the subject of some comment, but obviously there must bo some such limit to avoid es> cessivo differentiation of the best class of young New Zoalancters. A considerable proportion ol ! the men preferred pastoral to dairy land, and asked for land which they can improve and so increase the capital va'hu. of the holding. Plans for , seriously "wounded pensioners included provision of fruit and' poultry farms near railways and towns, where men can occupy small areas of first class land together and separately. iSoroe such areas were already available to supply any demand. An opportunity of tuition would (be provided in such special aieas as the Government proposed to provide for the opening of Crown lands far discharged tsold}„>r& in districts sparsely populated, with really gcod roads, the expense being far less than that of acquiring and

■loading private .lands. Soldiers would thus have the opportunity ot earning- ■wages in road 'construction wliita improving their own allotments. The itfoa that the Government should acquire, survey into subdivisions, and road enouglr laud to provide for the return of the Main Body was erroneous- Apart from the present scarcity of labor, if the land were really good and improved it must be Jsettledl soon after acquisition, or it would speedily deteriorate. ''We- have already considerable areas of dairy land for wliich there is no present demand." said tho Minister, '"which wte 'have endeavored to let for grazing at low rentals to prevent it going back. This applies specially to tile acquisition of private estates, which, for that reason, we desire t-o acquire as

demand arises, and l not to keep till the end of the war. As to Crown land we desire to let the expenditure ta'ko place when we have soldiers to do the work instead of spending while the labor is short. The officers of the head office of the Lands Department and Commissioner of Crown Lands has been most diligent in ilie matter of returned soldiers, and given every assistance to soldiers and to the Government. As to pastoral runs in Canterbury mid Otago, the Government decided that returned soldiers who might desire to taike up runs should have at least an equal op- 1 ' portunity with the people left in the •Dominion, ancli therefore k had been directed that runs which have been! classified for subdivision and which in the ordinary eourso would have been submitted for competition in (February 1918, shall not be so submitted until 1919, and not then unless the war is over and the Main Body has returned. At present there is no provision enabling the Government to make special advances to enable the soldier to acquire for ,himself private land and stock it. This is under consideration in amendments to be proposed this session."