CARVING OUT HOMES

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12613, 25 November 1926, Page 7

CARVING OUT HOMES

ON SECOND CLASS LANDS DIFFICULTIES OF FARMERS REMINDER TO CITY CRITICS The tribulations which confront some of those who are forced to carve for themselves homes on second and third-grade lands, were outlined by the Minister for Lands (the Hon A. 1). McLeod) after his return from Auckland, where ho attended a big conference on the subject. “About 250 people were present at the meeting, 1 ' he said, “and not less than fifteen took an active part in the discussion, the majority of the speakers expressing the opinion that unless means could be devised lor greatly reducing the cost of production it would be worse than useless to attempt to bring in any considerable proportion of the unoccupied

Crown Lands. The general trend of the discussion showed that whilq inflated values caused by the war boom had played tbeir full part in to-day’s problems in respect of settled lands, it was far from being the only cause, as less than 25 per cent of the occupied holdings of the Dominion changed hands during the boom for other than nou-speculative reasons. RECURRING CHARGES “What is alarming so many of our practical farmers who have been in occupation of second and third-grade lands for twenty years and longer, is the fact that while in pre-war days they could comfortably meet the expense required to check reversion to manuka and other second growths which are recognised as an ever-re-curring charge on such lands, they find that to-day the' increase in labour and other costings is retarding improvements, preventing maintenance, and in some cases resulting in abandonment of holdings. Consequently any commission of inquiry competent to advise on this phase of an economic problem, which is seriously affecting other countries as well as our own, will be welcomed not only by the settlers but also by the Government, both of whom are equally anxious to find a solution. Un the one hand the settlers are receiving a bare pre-war return for their produce, while on the other the cost of practically every farm necessity has increased not less than 100 per cent. THE CITY CRITIC “All these points were strongly stressed by every practical farmer who spoke at the conference, but apparently it did not strike the attention of the Press representatives present, as those opinions were not featured in the report of the proceedings. “While city agents and such boosters are urging men to go out and be the ‘backbone’ of the country. the farmer is inquiring why it is nec(*sary for the city newspapers to maintain an increase of 100 per cent, m the price of their papers; why it is that although the farmer received about 8s for the raw wool required to make a suit, when he goes along to his tailor for the finished article the price is ten guineas: why it is that although he sells his fruit on the farm at less than a penny per pound, when he goes to the shop to buy it back again it costs him anything up to sixpence; why it is, when he seeks to obtain some control of what he produces, he is called a Bolshevik and informed that no Britisher w*ll stand for price-fixing, while at the same time he knows that everything he needs is as effectually controlled as if fixed by the laws of the Medes and Persians. FARMERS’ QUERY “Those are the things the farmer wants to have answered by his city critics, who tell him to he a good boy, go out back, and don’t ask inconvenient questions. “Here is a letter which, I am sorry to 6ay, is typical of many I receive. Although short, it speaks volumes:— ‘J have been sixteen years on this place, carving a home out of the bush. Until 1921, although we often went short, we managed to battle through, but since then things have got steadily worse. This year, I am sorry to say, we are right up against it; the wife had another little one (making five now), and the doctor’s bill for this, and the dentist’s charges for seeing to the other children’s teeth, ran into £33. Our rent comes to £3B a year, and we were wondering whether you could see your way, sir, to remit it or postpone it for this year”