The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1920. PUTTING SOLDIERS ON THE LAND.

Southland Times, Issue 18833, 28 May 1920, Page 4

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1920. PUTTING SOLDIERS ON THE LAND.

Whatever may be the views of the governments critics regarding the methods employed by the government in putjing returned soldiers on the land, the statement recently issued by the Minister of Lands and published in our columns this morning contains much that should give us satisfaction. We do not. hide from ourselves the fact that the manner in which the government went to work was open to grave criticism on the score that by its provision of cheap money for the acquisition of land, and by its extensive purchases it did much to advance the; prices of land, but it must be admit ted that quite apart from the operations of tha government, land values would have advanced in consequence of the high prices ruling for the primary products of the dominion. It can be argued with some effect, too, that in many instances the procedure adopted by the State resulted in experienced farmers being replaced on farms in full production by men who

had little or no knowledge of agricultural and pastoral pursuits. From this point, therefore, it can be shown that the expenditure of over £19,000,000 on repatriation has not increased the number of people on the land by anything like the figure suggested in this return, but the department itself can take credit to itself for havmg assisted 13,084 returned men, of whom 6858 went into the rural area, while there are still over 200,000 acres purchased by ;he government Waiting to be offered to .the ex-soldiers. In criticising the operations of the department it is idle to suggest that the money voted for repatriation of the soldiers was meant to be employed for the bursting up of big estates. The department’s duty was to get men on the land and it has accomplished a great work which is not yet complete and which must not be permitted to stop short of completion. To suggest, too, that only “just over a thousand men have been settled on land purchased from the owners of extensive estates” is to accept the figures contained in the first portion of the paragraph of the Minister’s statement as disclosing the total area of the “extensive estates” subdivided. We do not know how many “extensive estates” are included in that area, but it is hardly fair, and certainly not sensible to quote the 1014 men settled on 280,576 acres under the Lands for Settlement Act while ignoring the fact that there are in hand over 200,000 acres, purchased under similar circumstances, now being sub-divided and prepared for settlement. The area acquired by the government under the Lands for Settlement Act, according to the Minister’s statement, is over 450.000 acres- and the capital value over 4,500,000. The record of the department’* operations is creditable, and it is unfortunate that there has been a check when there are still many men waiting to fake up land. As we said before, (he government’s method is open to criticism and we are afraid that some land boards, in their zeal to protect soldiers from going into projects they cannot successfully handle, have laid themselves open to the criticisms that they are using the government money as if for investment rather than for giving generous assistance to soldiers. but the fact that 13,684 men have been helped is something for which we can lie thankful. There have been mistakes we have no doubt, and some soldiers have probably felt themselves agrieved at their treatment, though the presence of ex-sol-diers on land boards should remedy that matter to a large extent, but taken in all the results gained for the expenditure of £19.000,000 should go a long way to dispel doubts as to the earnestness of the government in this matter.