A BIG PROBLEM

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 306, 17 March 1928, Page 29

A BIG PROBLEM

FIRE-DAMAGED LAND RE-GRASSING QUESTIONS (From Our Own Correspondent) TAUMARUNUI, Friday. Though many Government officials, and others also, would possibly prefer to ignore the fact, it is undeniable that an alarming number of sections in the central districts of the King Country have been abandoned in recent years. This may also apply to other districts, but in country that has been in productivity for a long time the position is not so a< Vast areas of good farming land have been swept by fire this season, and this has added to the total of the abandoned holdings, as in not a few cases the fire damage meant ruin for the struggling £ai iT'the last meeting of the Taumarunui Country Council the gravity of the situation was discussed, and members were generally of the the opinion that if the fire-swept areas were re-grassed, and the valuations reduced, the sections would be readily taken up by land seekers. Ihe Council passed a resolution dealing with crown holdings in particular and it was decided to write to the Minister of Lands pointing out among other things that larev areas of land held under shortterm leases had been swept by Are. and that if this land was immediately regrassed, and the values reduced, much of th! damaged areas could be properly used again, and without any great dela>. The Council resolved to solicit the support of other Counties in this matter of endeavouring to promote closer .. settlement. and the re-occupation of abandoned sections.