LAND SETTLE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 270, 9 July 1932, Page 6

LAND SETTLE

.UNEMPLOYED PLEDGE SUPPORT TO MR. JACKSON'S SCHEME PETITION PRESENTED SUITABLE BLOCKS AVAILABLE; ONLY FINANCE NEEDED Some months have eiapsed since his Worship the Mayor, Mr T. Jackson first propounded his community land settlement scheme • at a public meeting in Rotorua, and so little has been heard of it in the meantime that many people considered • that Mr. Jackson had either ahandoned or suspended the proposal. Such, however, is far from being the case. Realising that the Government would not be impressed by generalities, but would look for concrete facts and suggestions, Mr. Jackson has been quietly and methodicaJXv marshalling hib facts and getting the support oi" the men who will be expected to come in under the scheme. ^

It is vicaily important that a sub- | stantial portion of the men should be in favour of the scheme, as many other land proposals mooted in New Zealand as panaceas for the cune of unemployment have failed through the opposition of the very people whom •they were uesigned to serve. That •Mr. Jackson's schenre has not this disability is evidenced by the fact that nearly 250 of the loeal unemployed have put their signatures to a petition urging the Government to put the proposals into operation and signifymg their willingness to take up land under it. The support of such a large oody of unempioyed in any ono district is a distinct advance on any previous attempt to deal with the settlement of land as a means of unemployment rolief, and Mr. Jackson is now in the position of being able to say rc the Government, "Here are the men, here is the land, provide us with the necessary maehinery and we will bring the two togetber." The Men s Petilion The following is the petition to which the men have put their signatures and which is now en route to the Minister of Employment in Wellington. — "We, the undersigned unemployed workers engaged on the Unemployment Board's relief sc.henies in the 'Rotorua district, \visb to signify our wholehearted support of the land settlement scheme brought forward by his Worship the Mayor of Rotorua, Mr. Thomas Jackson, chainnan of Ihe Rotorua Unemployin°nt Committee. and explained by liim at a meeting of relief workers called for the puvpbse. "After hav.in? investigated as fuily as we are able the ueiails of various land *».•* : h mcnt s la mos pm fot-wer i froiu riiui t-» ti.ie,. \v a ' >C tee opir. ». at . seitiirneat s*Tn'R ar, pioposea \ nr. Jackson m t i one whare the workers concei' ied we have the oe t chancc of be:ng successiul, and so cease ultimately .charge on the innds available. "We respectfully recucst that this scheme should be Udly investigated and that immediate steps should be taken to put the scheme into operation. "We pledge ourselves to support the scheme and undsrtake to take up land on the basis suggested." The Position Altered. In an interview with the "Morning Post" yesterday, Mr. Jackson stated that the position had altered somewhat since the original proposal re-sp-ecting one area. That area had been used as rn example because, in Mr. Jackson's cpmion, it offered a quiclt means of settling a comprratively laige uumber of famii'es in a position wheie, woriting operatively, they veuld be able to produce a grea: .nuny of their requirements immediate ]y. There were, huwever, so many complicalions in regard to titles, mcrlgages ard other incidentais attached to the acquirement of privete property that the Government was now being asked to co^sider the scheme on a broader basis. This would mean that the scheme would be an experimenl to be ca-'vicd ciut in this district on suitable Crown lands with a view to its adoption as a national employment poliey if the experiment ir.dicates success being achieved. The lluntan Klement Without wishing to eriticise any of ihe other proposals which had been put forward in various parts of ihe country, Mr. Jackson stated that it appeared to liim that there was cne important factor which had been overlooked in the problem. That factor was the nature of the human material with' which it was rroposed to deal. The majority of those whom it was hoped to settle under these schemes had no previbus farming exprrranee, and this would prove t » be an insurmountable obstacle to tiie succe^s cf any attempt to settlo them on an individualistic basis. It is to overcome this obstacle as well as certain other economie obstacles that Mr. Jackson is advocating settlement of the men on a community basis. The whole scheme has been srtbmitted and explained to the relief workers in Rotorua and the petition which is being forwardcd to the Minister gives some indication of the manner in which they received it. In adli-

tion to the petition a questionaire has been circulated amongst the men and those returned so far are distinctly favourable to the proposals and indicate a very strong desire on the part of the relief workers to participate in a scheme which offers them some hope for the future. Don't Want Relief Mr. Jackson is convinced that there is a definite desire on the part of the men to get away from relief work. Given an opportunity of joining a co-operative association for the purpose of developing and bringing into production areas of Crown land, or suitable private lands with a view to the members of the associations ultimately becoming the occupiers of small one-man farms which' would ensure to them, with proper working, a reasonable livelihood for themselves and families, ninety per cent would make good. The position then, so far as Rotorua is concerned is that we have abundant evidenee that the manpower i.s available. We also know that there is sufficient Crown land in the district suitable for the purpose. Even if the Crown land of the immediate vicinity could not be made available, there is the Pouakani block and the Te Hoi block in the Taupo

eounty, aecess to which can be had from Mokai. Mr. Jackson stated that there was at least 30,000 aeres of land suitable for subdivision into one man iai ms in these bloclcs, and the poorest land in them was of better quality than the Ngakuru settlement. This was not all the land available uy any means. Man Power and Land Therefore, said Mr. Jackson, we have the two main factors, man power and land. Under the scheme proposed the utilisation of the Unemployment Board funds for the purpose of establishing the community settlements would provide the necessary finance. Mr. Jackson has been carefully into the figures and said that it was sufficient to state, in general terms, that the same amount now being paid in sustenance to each man under the No. 5 Scheme, if utilised co-operatively i for the purpose of providing such community settlement with the necessities of life, would also provide the interest and sinking fund on an internal loan sufficient to carry out the developmental work to a stage when settlers would be able to shoulder the m-ponsibility for themselves. Already Spending Money Mr. Jackson pointed out that, whilst realising that the expenditure of a large amount of money necessarily involved serious consideration on the part of the Government, the money required was actually being expended at the present time in ways which, no matter how beneficial to certain sections of the community, could not possibly be of the same national value as if they were spent in forwarding comprehensive land settlement scheures such as the one he was advocat- . ing. It seemed to be generally conceded, said Mr. Jackson, that we must look to land settlement for some measure of relief from unemployment, and as had been shown, all the factors necessary for the success of a land settlement scheme are in this district and feady to hand. It will require somej thing more than Departmental complacency to convince the people of Rotorua that these factors should not immediately be brought together.