LAND SETTLEMENT

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12613, 25 November 1926, Page 11

LAND SETTLEMENT

VALUE OF SMALL FARMERS PROBLEM OF IDLE AREAS. The opinion that the small farm** has been somewhat neglected by Governments in the past was voiced by the Hon. 0. J. Hawken, Minister for Agriculture, in addresing a gathering of orchardists at Te Kanwhata. “I am satisfied,” he said, “that fiof years we have not paid sufficient attention to the small man who wants to earn a small living off the land for himself and his family. I believe, as a general principle, in helping the man who is prepared to battle out a living on land which is lying idle. Such a man is a far better proposition to the country than the man who is merely seeking a job.” Mr Hawken said he had had a great deal of experience on the land, and he knew the labour and perseverance entiled in bringing waste land into cultivation. It would, in his opinion, be far better, with respect to much Crown land now lying idle, to give it away to suitable people rather roan retain it unused and unprofitable. (Hear, bear, and laughter.) In land settlement it was the man who counted. The trouble was that some men to-day wanted a €IOOO house on the land they leased from the Crown, with the result that they were unable to meet expenses. The land boards must at all costs retain their right to select the tenants they believed to be most suitable.