SETTLING THE LAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 762, 7 September 1929, Page 16

SETTLING THE LAND

NEW BILL CRITICISED NO OPPORTUNITY FOR BOYS General disappointment was expressed at a meeting o£ the Council o£ the Auckland Land Settlement and Development League yesterday, when it was announced that the Land Laws Amendment Bill, now before Parliament, omitted to deal with the pressing problem of placing boys on the land. On the grounds that it was comprised exclusively of permanent Gov- j eminent officials, the proposed Lands j Development Board was also attacked. ' To the league’s request that a cadet j settlement scheme should be initiated : to provide boys leaving school with opportunities to enter upon a farming career, the Minister of Lands, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, wrote as follows: — The Prime Minister lias been in communication with me in regard to this matter, and I have now to inform you that it has been decided not to proceed with such a scheme in the meantime, but to devote the resources that will be placed at my disposal in meeting the heavy demand for land from experienced farmers with and without capital. Very little settlement has been effected during the past few years, and consequently a special effort must be made to adjust the position. I am recording your suggestion for reconsideration at a later date.” Disappointment was expressed at the Minister’s announcement, and it was decided to repeat the request that the scheme should be gone through with. CAPABLE MEN AVAILABLE Mr. J. E. Makgill said that it should be pointed out that the Bill did not define the class of man who would be allowed to take up land. There were many men who could never make a success of farming, and on the other hand there were numbers of capable men In Auckland with farming experience, who were ouly prevented from going back to the land through lack of capital. “I think that class of landless man should be catered for at present, as well as the non-trained and semi-trained individual,” concluded Mr. Makgill. Mr. A. A. Ross, who presided in the absence of Mr. W. J. Holdsworth, said that the league had always regarded a group settlement scheme as the first essential to get men on the land. That would enable them to become trained and tested, so that those men who were unsuited to farming could abandon the pursuit and return to a city occupation before they became financially involved in a farm of their own. “But the Bill also omits to deal with boy farmers,” said Mr. Makgill. There were about 2,000 boys in the Dominion who had been brought out from Britain under various immigration schemes. Some of these boys had finished three or four years’ training, and were now ready to go on development lands, until such times as they could be given land of their own. All they wanted was financial assistance to enable them to obtain farms of their own. The following resolution was passed:—“lt is essential to success under a liberal system of assisted settlement that every precaution be taken to ensure that the personal element is satisfactory and that the applicants be proven men who have the \ necessary experience to ensure success; if sufficient experience has not been obtained previously, then a group or settlement camp proposal should be provided, if possible, in the proposed legislation.” Exception was taken to the personnel of the proposed Lands Development Board. The following resolution was also passed:—“We appreciate the principle of co-ordination between the Departments of Lands, Agriculture and Finance in the subjects of settlement as indicated in the Bill, but we consider it undesirable that the board should be comprised exclusively of permanent Government officials; it is in the best interests of the Dominion that the board should comprise approved men with experience of the different phases covered in the settlement proposals.” "If they are to consist of officials from the department, I do not think they will make a success of it,” remarked Mr. E. N. Ormiston. “There has been too much of that in the past.”