PUMICE LANDS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 342, 1 October 1932, Page 5

PUMICE LANDS

■ PURELY EXPERIMENTAL V/ellington, Fi'iday. | Refererce is made to the extent of i native land development work, by the National Expenditure Commission, which reeommends in its final report, that expenditure in this direction should be rigidly eurtailed. A section of the report deals with settlement of pumice and "bush-sick" land and is therefore of particular interest in the I Rotorua district: — Another feature of Native develop- | nient is that considerable su'ms have i heen expended on the developanent of j pumice land, and, as it has not yet , been proved that these lands are cap- | ahle of economic development, the sehemes must still he regarded as exj perimental. Approximately £40,000 ! has heen expended in this direction, and in vknv of other development schemes, notahly the Ngakuru Block under the control of the Lands and Survey Department, it is suggested that expenditure on this type of land should he held in aheyance uni.il the results can he mere defmitely gauged. Our investigations discloso that the cost of d-evclov'inent of pumice land is in the vieinity of £20 per acra with a heavy maintenance cost for the first few years. This being the case, it is diiHcult to justify develojjment at such cost, and if pumice lands eannot he brought into permanent pasture at a mere reasonable price, then they would be better left in their natural state until the finances of the Dominion are in a rnore buoyant condition. Experira.cntal development work of this nature mav ba justifiable if done out of revenus, but if financed frcm lcan funds, on. which interest and amortization charges must be met over a long period of j'.ears, they are definitely uneconomic. In the case of one Maori Land Board the development schemes are scattered over a wide area, and are mu-tl," ur.der the supervision of an ohicer who until recantly was employed as a clerk-interpreter in the Native Land Court. We eannot regard this officer as having sufficient experience and farming knowledge to enable him to instruet the natives and to obtain the best results from the money spent. "Bush-Sick" Land There have been large sums of Maori Land Board funds invested in the development of "bush-sick" land. In one case an area of 2,615 acres adjacent to Rotorua was taken up and has been brought to the production stage hy clearing, grassing, etc. Two areas of healthy land were acquireu to enable the stock to have a change of pasture and the prices paid were £5000 and £2000 respeetively. During the past two years farming operations have resulted in suhstantial losses, and up to March 31, 1032, approximately £38,000 had been expended on this seheme, but the land has not yet been subdivided for oceupation by individual settlers. In the first place, the seheme wTas too ambitious for a Maori Land Board to undertake with its limited funds, and the board concerned eannot now complete what it set out to do. Secondly, the risk of spending so mueh money on country known to be "bush-sick" appears to have been too great. Yet another matter in connection with this seheme is the payment to the owners of an annual rental in respeet of property which is being developed for their henefit or future occupation. Some of the owners also receive wages for work done, and in the circumstances the principle of paying rent which comes out of capital is entirely wrong. Experimients Necessary These are but a few examples of the extent to which developmental works have been finaneed and carried out, mainly under the control of Maori Land Boards. This is but one of the functions which have heen delegated to them hy the Native Minister, and is not normally part of their duties. They have not the administrative machinery to assume responsibility for work of this description, and we are of opinion that the administration should be strengthened if it is decided that the work should still proceed. We are, however, douhtful of the wisdom of expending large sums of money on the development of inferior country, particularly pumice an,d "bush-sick" country where develop--ment is still in its experimental stages. ' It would be better to concentrate on one area of pumice or "bush-sick" country, bring it to the production stage, and assess the economic re- ! sults before expending large sums of j money on doubtful schemes.