WHERE IS THE LAND?

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8343, 1 February 1913, Page 4

WHERE IS THE LAND?

We have before us a copy of a booklet entitled “New Zealand—lnformation for Farmers and Farm Hands.” It is issued from the office of the High Commissioner in London for the special guidance of “farmers and farm workers” who may contemplate emigrating to this country. With the arrangement of the contents and their quality there is little room for disagreement, and the attractiveness of the production is enhanced by the inclusion of several good illustrations. People who read the pamphlet, though they do not emigrate, will gather much information of a reliable charaoser fiom its pages. But we fear that any who may be induced to make this their adopted homo by the chapter on “The Laud System of New Zealand” are storing up for themselves all the possibilities of bitter disappointment. The different systems under which land is “thrown open for selection” are given in detail and with due regal'd to accuracy, and there is a brief resume of the activities of. the Department of Agriculture for the assistance of settlers. But the inference all through is that the land is here, to be obtained practically for the asking, on a variety of alternative terms all favourable enough. Nothing is said of the real state of the land market; of the hideous monopoly which drives people into the towns, and is every day becoming more acute as the remnant of the Crown estate diminishes; of the depopulation which took place in several fertile counties even in the last five years; of the unfortunate ratio of applicants to sections at land ballots. The High Commissioner’s brochure is silent regarding the enormous sums ,of money it has cost the State to recapture a little over a million acres from those who gridironed our islands in the early days. Not a word is said concerning the fact that over 40,000,000 acres out of a total of 52,000,000 acres of usable land is held by 73,000 persons. We would not discourage one single desirable person from leaving England to settle in New Zealand. All that we can absorb with mutual profit or advantage should be welcomed with open arms, for we require them just as they need the opportunities and liberties of this undeveloped country. But we object most entirely and strongly to inducing people here by false pretences or by any representations short of absolute candour. The truth about land for settlement in New Zealand is, that there is a farm famine. Another fact of consequence is that the present occupants of the Treasury benches are the natural, traditional and official protectors of the great landholders, their political mission is to buttress the monopolists. Where is the land which the High Commissioner is advising the farmers and farm workers of Britain is so comparatively easy to acquire?