LAND UTILISATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 859, 31 December 1929, Page 9

LAND UTILISATION

GRANT FOR INVESTIGATION PROFESSOR BELSHAW RETURNS A grant of 2,000 dollars a year for two years, to be used ir research work on land utilisation in New Zealand, was made by the International Research Committee at the conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations. rjUIE grant will be under the trusteeship of the Auckland University. Professor H. Belshaw, Professor of Economics at the University, will be in charge of the investigations. No plan has yet been formulated, but the field will be limited. Subjects to be investigated are soil and climatic conditions, land tenure, finance and land settlement. Professor Belshaw returned by the Maunganui this morning after attending the third biennial conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations at Kioto, Japan, and gave particulars of the grant. About 24 delegates were presfrom countries of the Pacific and Great Britain. There were also several observers from Rust 1 Mexico, Holland and the Dutch E Indies, and it is possible that Rus and the Dutch East Indies will send groups to future conferences after their observers have made their reports. The British delegation consisted of Lord Hailshain, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Baldwin Government, Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, son of the British Prime Minister, and Mr. Lionel Curtis. America was represented by Dr. James T. Shotwell, who formulated the Kellogg Peace Pact. There were also strong Chinese and Japanese delegations. The New Zealanders were Mr. W. B. Matheson, leader of the New Zealand delegation, Mr. Lawn, of Canterbury College, Mr. L. G. Hogwood, Auckland, Miss Vera Hay, Auckland, Miss Carol West Watson, Christchurch, Miss Seaton, Wellington, and Professor Belshaw. GOOD IMPRESSION Many important subjects were dealt with at round the table discussions and the New Zealand delegates seem to have made a most favourable impression. Professor Belshaw stated that the institute is an unofficial organisation and passes no resolutions. After the different subjects have been fully discussed at round table conferences and ideas for the solutions of those problems have been put forward the interested people are gathered together and eventually Governments are approached. Among the outstanding topics discussed were “The Position in Manchuria,” "Extraterritoriality in China,” “Diplomatic Relations in the Pacific,” “The Machine Age in Modern Culture,” and “Food Supplies and the Population of the World.” Mr. Lawn, of Christchurch, was a member of the programme committee, and impressed everyone with his work. He was also chairman of a roundtable and evening forum. Miss West Watson, daughter of the Bishop of Christchurch, delivered a statement of diplomatic relations in New Zealand, which made a very good impression on the other delegates. Professor Belshaw was appointed to the Pacific Council, the research committee, and some sub-committees. “We did not discuss the position in Samoa,” said Professor Belshaw this morning. “I was on a sub-committee which was asked to bring down a programme for a round-table discussion in the Pacific dependencies, including Samoa, hut the committee felt there was not sufficient evidence prepared to make the discussion profitable.” An international committee will make a systematic and full investigation into the Pacific dependencies, so that the position can be revised biennially. JAPANESE HOSPITALITY Professor Belshaw was impressed by the hospitality of the Japanese. Delegates were the guests of the Emperor at a garden party, and numerous other functions were given in honour of the visitors. While in Kyoto, Professor Belshaw witnessed a procession through the streets in which people dressed in different costumes represented the various historical stages of Japan. Among them were Japanese in modern clothes, and invariably there were people dressed in kimonos and wearing bowler hats. This seemed to typify Japan, said Professor Belshaw. The country had gone a long way toward the adoption of Western civilisation, he found, but there were still curious mixtures of the East and the West to be seen. In the heart of the cities there were beautiful streets liued with modern buildings, but in the outer areas one walked through muddy, narrow streets, which were lined with old houses. One gratifying feature of Japan was the attention paid to arts and crafts. Industrially Japan was proceeding so rapidly that several slum areas seemed to be developing. Professor Belshaw found that Japan was friendly disposed toward Great Britain, and great interest was displayed in New Zealand, particularly by. university students. “They are not worried about emigration,” he said. “We flatter ourselves too much by paying too much attention to what we think they are interested in.” He stated that the Japanese have their eyes on Manchuria, a country in which they have done a great deal of good. Relations between China and Japan are strained.