LAND SETTLEMENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 101, 20 July 1927, Page 13

LAND SETTLEMENT

PROPOSED INQUIRY BOARD PROTEST AGAINST DELAY A protest against the delay on the part of the Government in appointing a board to inquire into land settlement problems, was made at a meeting of the executive of the New Zealand Land Settlement League yesterday. Mr. W. W. Massey presided. At a meeting of the league last November, it was stated, the Hon. A. D. McLeod, Minister of Lands, had said that if the request for a board was supported, he had no doubt that the Government would appoint one. Although the league had repeatedly taken up the matter with the Minister nothing had been done. The league was being looked to for a remedy for the present difficulties regarding settlement and the disabilities of the farmer, said Mr. E. Earl Vaile. The board should be appointed, and the most eminent men procurable should be selected, the order of reference being as wide as possible. It was decided to again approach Mr. McLeod on the subject. On his recent visit to Auckland, said Mr. W. Norton, the Prime Minister had said that machinery existed whereby the two parties to a mortgage could be brought together with a view to a compromise. Mr. Coates in a recent letter had indicated that the machinery was permissive and that the Government exercised no pressure in the matter. The position revealed by Mr. Coates’s letter, it was stated, was quite different to the impression given to the deputation previously, and the opinion was | expressed that immediate action should be taken to provide the necessary machinery.