SMALL FARMS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 650, 30 September 1933, Page 4

SMALL FARMS

The complaints raised in this | end of the province with regard i to the progress of settlement un- ' der the small farms scheme introduced by Mr Coates appear to | have some justification so far as actual results are concerned. At the same time those who have ( been personally interested in the j pushing of the scheme point out j that the conditions in the South . Auckland Land District are by , no means the same as those pre- 1 vailing in the North. The land in the North, it is emphasised, is held in very much larger blocks, and there are vastly greater facilities there for subdivision into areas popular with the public. The demand for farmlets of ten acres is very limited, the majority of applicants under the scheme desiring something approaching a more normal farm holding. With bigger areas available in the North it has been possible to place a larger proportion of people on land. Be that argument sound or not the fact remains that the progress of this class of settlement in the North has been very much more marked than in the South. • The explanation of the unsatisfactory position in this part of the province is that we have not had the land available here in the same quantity a.nd in the same popular areas as in the North. Both in the Waikato and the Rotorua district the holdings of the farmers are generally. small. That is to say that they do not lend themselves to the same profitable and popular subdivisions as the large areas of the North. The large areas still

available here have not y'et been brought into cultivation and do not, therefore, lend themselves to the settlement of families without money. In fact, it must be frankly admitted," by the most optimistic supporter of Mr. Coates' scheme, that it has failed. to accottiplished much. in- this' portion of the province. Definite official figures are not available at the moment, bnt it may be taken as correct that settlement results in accordance with the objects of the scheme here have been poor. There have been j four families placed on farms in j the Ngongotaha district on a share-milking basis; one family at Reporoa, and four others at Atiamuri, but no ten-acre farmlets have been made available and few applied for. Families would be glad to get farms of .40, 50 or 60 acres in extent with th£ possibility of making a normal return from dairying or other agricultural pursuits, but the land, is not available. Except in fare instances -there have been no applications for ten acres. If there had been the chances are that the Government could not have supplied the modest holding.