SETTLEMENT URGED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 681, 5 June 1929, Page 9

SETTLEMENT URGED

PRIME MINISTER MEETS DEPUTATION CROWN LANDS SUITABLE A request that the Government develop as quickly as possible the settlement of Crown and native lands was made to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, by a deputation from the New Zealand Land Settlement and Development League this morning. T'HE deputation was introduced by Mr. M. R. Jenkins, M.P., who explained that the league had been formed three years ago. Its objects had been one reason for the speakerseeking election to Parliament. The league, said Mr. W. J. Holds - worth, chairman, urged that the first step be settlement of Crown and native lands and that the process should be progressive and outward from centres. Details had been obtained of 400,000 acres of land in the RotoruaTaupo district, and costs had been obtained from representative farmers. In the North Auckland district there were extensive areas of Crown and native lands, and the branch of the league in the Bay of Islands had forwarded details of available land and costs. AREAS NEAR AUCKLAND Investigations in the Lands Office, Auckland, showed large areas totalling over 200,000 acres north of Waihi, and it had been slated by Mr. A. M. Samuel, M.P., at a recent conference between M.P.’s and the league, that 100,000 acres of this was plougliablc. Similarly, there were thousands of acres available 25 miles from Auckland City. This land was suitable for settlement, and had come under the jurisdiction of the Forestry Department. The league believed that all State forest reserves should be scrutinised, to decide, in view of present-day conditions, the most profitable means of utilising them. • Legislation should be put through this session to enable the State to assist the establishment of settlers until such time as they were self-supporting. It was considered essential to set UP a Dominion Settlement and Migration Board, with local advisory com- 1 mittees. Figures submitted to the league by practical men indicated that for £I,OOO to £1,500 a holding could be made to pay its way and repay establishment cost. The league had been approached by hundreds of men anxious to settle, and willing to start if given the bare necessities. WORKERS READY Forty workers .at Public Works camps had made a list and were merely waiting for some definite word. The league had had an interesting conference with Lord Lovat when lie was in Auckland and he had said that New Zealand was not getting the pick of British immigrants, as other Dominions developed settlement on a 50-50 basis. The speaker felt sure that something would be done by the Prime Minister ajid his Government. Replying, Sir Joseph Ward said that he valued the opinion of practical men on the subject. It seemed as if the Government must introduce legislation to carry out the league’s objects or give them a trial at least. There was no reason why the system should not be given a fair trial. Sir Joseph would place the question before his colleagues. He himself was in sympathy with the movement, as land settlement would solve the serious problem of unemployment.