OPENING UP NEW LANDS.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 224, 16 February 1928, Page 5

OPENING UP NEW LANDS.

GOVERNMENT’S POLICY DISCUSSED.

IHE ERROR OF DROPPING LOCAL COMMITTEES.

Empire Settlement Scheme and Present Defects

Within six to seven miles as the trow flies from Putaruru, some fifteen to twenty thousand acres of tip-top land, eminently suited for closer settlement, awaits settlers. All through the pumice country similar huge tracts await development. This land has long been decried but is now

Showing its worth. While Cambridge way the drop in cream output has amounted to over thirty per, cent -S solely on account of the drought and this in an old settled district where green fodder, ensilage, and the like, ate far more commonly used than in the pumice belt—in the immediate Putaruru district the drop is touch less, while at Tokoroa it is infinitesimal. Many experienced travellers who have recently toured the North Island have gone out of their yvay to state that the Tokoroa disitrict is the “ only gr,een spot on the toap.” | i A Puketurua View. Besides suffering the handicap of being condemned by old Government A records, the pumice lands in their na- , , tural state also suffer the disadvantage of being most unprepossessing. .Without knowing the possibilities of these areas anyone viewing them in the rough might well be excused for labelling them as useless. Nevertheless let any doubting Thomas journey but a few miles from Putaruru to Mr. Karl’s place just off the Waotu iroad at Puketurua. Here, from the ! high hill by the homestead, a fine yiew of the surrounding country may | be had. On one side of the road the land has been cut up and joVsettled, are trim grass paddocks with an excellent sole of grass carrying sleek milking herds. Fine live hedges ten to twelve feet high border the paddocks, and the scene is altogether one showing in a marked degree : .what land but a few years ago regarded as almost worthless will do. r On the opposite side of the road j practically no development has taken J place, though at the moment fairly \ big areas are under the plough. This land in its natural state is covered with small stunted growth—and rabbits. Viewed from the hill already mentioned its value would be put at about 5s per acre, and perhaps reckoned dear at that. Yet it is exactly j the same land, and Karl’s and neighbouring farms stand as a wonderful testimonial to what this apparently | Useless country will do when properly » -i handled. “ When in Rome ” Nor is the cost of breaking-in such Country prohibitive. True enough i the cost to some in the earlier days i was fairly heavy, but that was when I there was little knowledge of the j manner of handling these light soils, and it is an axiom that man has to pay for experience. The Hon. Mr. McLeod has stated that the tract of pumice soil brought in by prison la- >■ bour near Taupo cost over £2O without buildings. That, however, was j/L because old methods used; because the usual manner of treating heavy soils further south was followed, and the plough kept consist- . ently in action. On top of this it is notorious that Government methods do not err on the economical side when undertaking such work. ; In the breaking in of any large tracts of new country under a settlement scheme, some means should be found whereby a local committee be set up to advise in regard to the methods peculiar to the district concerned. . Local Committees Essential. This may not be always palatable to the agricultural expert, but then these articles are written with a view to endeavouring' to secure more efficiency in connection with land settlement, and the expert is often far from being efficient When it comes to adopting new methods. Had Mr. Coates seen fit to adopt the unanimous recommendation of the Royal Commission on Rural Banking, and ™ set up local committees who were financially interested in the allocation <ppßi£>ney to farming interests, it Wonse have been one of the grandest things which ever happened for New -Xe aland agriculture. Each member of the committee would, as he was required to take up a holding in the

scheme, have, not only his reputation, b&t his “ pocket ” at stake, and knowing the country tho loans would have been distributed in a far, far more satisfactory manner than car. ever be done by a few men in Wellington vested with t rief plumage. With such committees thoroughly established it would have been a simple matter to broaden their scope or establish similar ones which would deal with land settlement. Work would then have been accomplished which will now-' take decades to carry out. Financial assistance would not only have been given to the smaller settler, but many holders of large tracts would have been enabled, through financial assistance provided by the local committees, to cut up their holdings for closer settlement in an expeditious manner with no risk to the country.

Too Big Holdings. Those in a position to know best — land valuers and men interested financially in backing farmers —state that one of the present big handicaps to closer settlement and intense production is-the fact that the majority of farmers have too big holdings. A portion of their property is farmed well, but the financial incubus on the balance keeps them poor, and largely undoes the good work attempted on the cultivated portion. Many, many owners of holdings from 1000 acres upwards would be only too pleased to cut up their blocks to-morrow if they could. They are powerless to do so, however, as they cannot find the necessary ready cash to pay the survey and other fees -and meet the heavy roading charges which are necessarily demanded by local bodies. It is not every one who has the standing, or necessary financial wizardry to carry out such cutting-up propositions on paper, and so thousands upon thousrnfis of acres of first-class land for farming purposes remains idle~ for want of some such scheme. There are “ difficulties ” in the way of carrying out suefT ideas it is true, but the greatest difficulty of all appears to be the lack of vision of the Hon. Ministers for Lands and Agriculture. The former has already advertised his pusillanimity up and down the country in connection with such schemes, when confronted with minor problems which most experienced local farmers in the districts visited laugh at, so until a change is portfolios is made, there appears to he little likelihood of any real progress being made while he is in office. Empire Settlement Scheme.

Again, under the Empire Settlement Scheme millions of pounds of very cheap money is being offered by the Mother Country to the Dominions provided they take her surplus population. Though this money is available at something like 4i per cent the whole scheme lags superfluous. Not much is known about the details of the scheme, for the simple reason that is it taboo by our authorities. So far as can be gathered the chief bone of contention is the fact that the authorities in England are against a rigid selection by the Dominions of the immigrants they are to receive.

This may be all very well in its way, but when one thinks of a few facts like the following it seems ridiculous that this difficulty cannot be overcome if the will is there. The facts are: (1) The great need of the moment to think Imperially and to shift masses from overcrowded England to the vast spaces which cry for settlement in the colonies. (2) For economical reasons the very urgent need for cheap money and increased production. (3) That despite “stringent selection ” unhealthy subjects and criminals arrive in New Zealand under the present system. (4) That Chinese, Dalmatian^,and other alien races are flocking in what time we •quibble with leaders of our own race. (5) That present “ stringent selection methods have flooded our towns, caused unemployment and neglected our land settlement schemes. One could go on and add many

other reasons, but sufficient has been given to show at least that with so many glaring defects on the side of (Continued in Next Column)

our present “ stringent selection ” methods of bringing out immigrants, one may be forgiven for doubting whether all avenues have been explored to take advantage of the Empire Settlement Scheme, or whether even the will to succeed has been there. In these bad times the country cries for more and more production, and politicians in a parrot-like manner have echoed the cry throughout the country-side, yet the more the condition of affairs is enquired into, the more it stands out in bold relief that the only ones not producing the goods are our politicians.