SOLDIER SETTLER’S HARDSHIP AND LOSS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 81, 27 June 1927, Page 14

SOLDIER SETTLER’S HARDSHIP AND LOSS

ALL HIS CAPITAL GONE PETITION TO PARLIAMENT A story of the hardship and loss suffered by a soldier settler, typical of the difficulties of many farmers, is disclosed at Runciman. Though only one oJ! many similar oases, the details of the experiences of Mr. S. F. G. Williams, of Runciman. provide a regrettable instance of the failure of some of the soldier settlements. Mr. Williams is petitioning Parliament for compensation amounting to £6OO, or alternatively that the Lands Department petition for his bankruptcy. BIG SUM IN IMPROVEMENTS Details of the petition show that Mr. Williams, who served in Gallipoli and. France, was afterwards granted a 66year lease of 299 acres in the Minden Block. He spent £529 15s 4d of his own and £I.OOO of a Government mortgage on the property, and lived on the property for- live years. For two years his affairs remained in a good position, but then his neighbours abandoned their blocks, and lie lost their co-operation. Improvements had been done when prices were high, and the strain then began to tell. On the repeated requests of the Crown he kept on trying to make a success of the venture, and hoping for treatment at the hands of the Revaluation Board that would enable him to survive the difficulties. FARM ABANDONED The assistance offered did not warrant Mr. Williams remaining on his farm, the probabilities being that he would have incurred debts that he had no chance of paying, and he left. At that time a sum of some £6O was then due to him from the Government. To provide bare necessities he sold some of the cattle oil which the Crown held securities, the amount not, however, reaching £6O. The result was that the Lands Department. having been refused by the police, decided to prosecute. The judge, however, described this action as trivial, and withdrew it from the jury. This resulted in loss of wages and £SO in expenses, and Mr. Williams states he is now penniless and unemployed as the result of which he is petitioning Parliament. BACK TO RUIN In the meantime Mr. Williams asserts that the stock has been sold. Tenders have been called for removal of the buildings, and all the money and time spent on the farm have been wasted as it has been allowed to go to ruin. _______________