LAND LEFT FALLOW

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 221, 12 May 1932, Page 6

LAND LEFT FALLOW

galatea estate THGUSANDS OF POUNDS TO ROAD AND FENCE A SHEEP RUN POLICY OF INANITION (E.G.W.) While thousands of men are clamouring for work and while the Gover'nment is prepared to spend thousands of pounds of thfc ta^payers jnottey on a "small farm" scheme to provide some at least of these men with an opportunity to earn a portion of their livelihood from the land, an area of 22,300 acres of the Galatea estate, in which nearly £135,000 of capital has already heen sunk, has been closed down by the Government and, so far as can be ascertained, is to be used merely as a sheep run for the next three or five years. In that capacity, it is at present carrying 7500 sheep and 700 cattle and is giving employment to a round dozen farm hands and a manager. Since the Galatea scheme was first mooted by the Government, and during the subsequent months of development? the public of the Dominion and of the Rotorua district has been led to believe that the vast area of land made available by the purchase and sub-division of the estate would be used for settlement purposes. All over the Dominion and from all classes' of the community, the opinion has been expressed that in land settlement lies the main solution of the country's unemployment problem. The Government and the politicians have even subscribed to that view, and Mr. Coates has heralded with trumpets a plan which proposes that the Government shall purchase various small farm lots on which the families of unemployed workers can

be settled. No Land Available? It might be surmised from this that the Government has no land available on. which to settle these men, but any person with a reasonable knowledge of the position knows that Miis is very far from the truth. The Government's attitude towards the settlement of Galatea is perhaps the most glaring example of the waste which is proposed. The Galatea estate, comprising 22,325 acres of arable land was purchased from Mr. H. E. Troutbeck, at a cost of £3 10s an acre, a total outlay of £78,137 10s. It was then handed over to the Public Works Department to undertake the initial roading, fencing and clearing work preparatory to subdivision. That work has been diligently pushed forward until to-day 58i miles of roading, over a dozen bridges, 50 miles of fencing and some thousands of acres of scrub clearing have been carried out. A sum of £50,000 has been spent on the roading and bridges, a further £2000 on scrub cutting and approximately £4500 on fencing. Included- in the expenditure on roading is the cost of the mile of cliff road round the Waiohau bluff s erected at a cost of £15,000. Work Well Done Although the inevitable criticisms have been levelled against the execution of this preliminary work. it is universally admitted by impartial opinion that fencing, roading and clearing have been carried out economically and effectively. Fencing has been erected at 21s a chain, which is a creditable figure having regard to the sound type of fencing erected and the first class material used. The cost of roading covers formation, metalling and bridge building charges and also gives a very reasonable construction cost per mile. The expenditure upon the bluffs road, although heavy, has given easy aceess to approximately 60,000 acres of arable land and although it entailed a most difficult construction undertaking, obviated the alternative of constructing 7£ miles of rugged hill road, which^ would entail an ascent and descent of over 1000 feet in that distance. The construction of this alternative route would undoubtedly have been a much more costly process than the cutting of the bluffs road. Large Sum Sunk So far, therefore, the Government 'has expended from the public funds, £78,137 in the purchase of the estate, £50,000 in roading and £6500 on fencing and clearing, a total of £134,637. This sum at 6 per cent. would return approximately £24,225 over a period of three years. However, a Government which is imposing daily hardships upon the people on the score of economy, is apparently prepared to forego this return and allow this vast area of country to support a few shepherds and a mere fraction of the stock which it is capable of carrying. Over 22,000 acres of land, capable of sunporting anything up to 200 families as a development scheme, and £134,637 of the country's money is to be allowed to all intents to be fallow for any period until the Government may be of sufficient energy to turn it to some practical use. Stocking Capacity When the Government purchased the property from Mr. H. E. Troutbeck, it was carrying 12,000 breeding ewes, and 6000 dry sheep, 500 breeding cows, 500 two-year-old heifers, and 500 mixed sorts with 50 horses, a total of 18,000 sheep, 1500 cattle and 50 horses. At the present time, after the property has been purchased and £56,000 spent in roading, fencing and clearing, it is carrying only 7500 sheep and about 700 cattle — a mere fraction of its productive capacity even as a run. Proof of this is the fact that during the summer preceding the sale, Mr. Troutbeck was carrying 60 per cent. more stock than when the Government made the purchase. Under private ownership, the greater part of the run was pastured chi'efly in danthonia, but there can be no question that if it was scientifically grassed in perennial rye and cowgr'ass, its productive capacity would be vastly increased. A great deal of the Galatea land is first class farming country, and it is in every way a_ practical possibility to settle 200> families on 'the area. And when „cqnsidering Galatea, it must be re-

vided access to a stretch of country double the area of the estate itself. Lying between the Waiohau bluffs and the southern boundary of the estate is 20,000 acres of Crown and native land, with a further 5000 further up the valley. All of this land is capable of subdivision and development and a proportion of it is amongst the riehest alluvial river flat land to be found in New Zealand. Left Unproductive The position then, is this. Roading and bridge construction which has been carried out by the Government at a cost of £50,000 has given access to 60,000 acres of splendid rolling country, capable of settling many hundreds of New Zealand's workers and providing incidental work for many more. In addition, £134,000 of capital has been sunk in the scheme, yet all this is to lie fallow and relatively unused, while the country's funds are used to purchase 10 acre lots from farmers to assist the unemployed. The policy of beginning costly works and then • all owing them to moulder and decay uncompleted, has already foisted a staggering hurdon, upon this country. The Government has recently reiterated that this policy so far as railway construction is concerned, has ceased once and for all, but in the face of the blunder which is being perpetrated at Gala-! tea, it is permissible to speculate whether the policy has not now been transferred to land settlement. A Sound Scheme Galatea is eminently a sound scheme, and it is one above all others which could be utilised to remove some portion of the burden which is weighing down and smothering this country. There can be no reasonable argument to defend the policy of wastage and inanition which is being pursued at the present time. Al- ■ though no official announcement has been made and public attention has been carefully diverted from the matter, it is admitted in official circles that nothing is to be done with the estate for a period of three years at least. Finance, of course, is mentioned as the difficulty, but that objection cannot be substantiated. The Unemployment Board will derive an income of over £3,500,000 from the heavy taxation which has now been imposed upon those fortunate enough to remain in employment, and the purpose of that fund is not only to provide sustenance for the workless, but to assist men back into employment. That being so, there can be no excuse for stagjiating a scheme like Galatea, already so far advanced, and only awaiting the; final impetus to become. a flourishing ' and productive area. Even if 100 families were settled, even 50, or 20, something at least would have been - - . r .1 .. .