The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1930 THE COST OF SETTLEMENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 965, 7 May 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1930 THE COST OF SETTLEMENT

IF the United Government intends to acquire fame and sus- * tained favour by virtue of its laud settlement policy it has a remarkable opportunity for the achievement of its excellent intention. More than half of the forty-three million odd acres of occupied land in this country is unimproved. This means, with some qualification as to barren and unproductive land, that the scope for an expansion of farming and increased production covers an area greater than the whole of the Irish Free State, which incidentally supports a population twice that of New Zealand and enables its raw Government to show a fine surplus without having chafed the neck of the taxpayer with the yoke of taxation. Indeed, two-thirds of the total number of people in the Six Counties now enjoying political freedom at last are engaged in agriculture and agricultural industries, while threequarters of the Free State’s produced wealth comes directly or indirectly from the laud. In this country, where tranquillity is such as to cause British investors to rush pell-mell for big holdings in our loans, there are over 24,000,000 acres of wilderness, representing neglect, lack of enterprise, and a great deal of political muddle. Of ♦ course, much of the rough land occupied, hut not improved, is beyond even the magical resources of the United Government to bring into profitable cultivation. Over two million acres come within the terse official classification, “barren and unproductive land.” And a great area, more than four million acres, is the typical country on which wild pigs and .goats alone can thrive. The Auckland Province contains a greater-expanse of unproductive land—over three million acres—than does any other district in the Dominion. Hence the yearning ery for settlement, still more settlement, north and south of the Auckland Isthmus. The alluring subject was discussed yesterday by the Auckland Land Settlement and Development League in an interesting interview with the Hon. G. W. Foi-bes, Minister of Lands. Unfortunately, the discussion did not lead to anything definite or even to something that could be taken as an encouraging prospect. Neither the Minister, a practical farmer, nor the League, including enthusiastic business men and importers, could find a way toward the fulfilment of a promise to transform Auckland’s wilderness into many little farms well tilled. Hope and sympathy were as ardent as ever, but there was no decision about beginning the transformation. And no new ground, either political or economic, was traversed, although there was a vague suggestion that group settlement with an outlay of British capital on a large scale might he encouraged and exploited. The Minister did not appear to be impressed by the idea, and skipped over it with the inevitable comment that financial groups were subject to restrictions as to size of areas and also to tlie ordinary (he might well have said extraordinary) taxation of the country. Then there were the usual references to the evil of land speculation and the high cost of breaking in tough land, impoverished soil, and scrub-ridden country. Beyond any argument whatever,, it would be a good thing, an excellent advantage for and to tlie Dominion, if its waste lands could be brought into profitable cultivation, but stark facts should put a curb on enthusiasm and a muzzle on those commercial optimists who clamour for more land settlement without counting the cost. Hundreds of farmers, in spite of State aid and no end of political sympathy, have been compelled to abandon their farms and look for some kind of work that at least would give them their daily bread and reasonable freedom from hopeless debt. Even now, under the Government’s urge to make a great name for itself in land settlement, the best it has been able to do, so far, lias been nothing better than the subdivision of expensive land at an average initial cost of £3,000 a farm. Would it not be better for the Minister of Lands and the Auckland Land League to stop trafficking in hopeful generalities and prepare a schedule of the areas, if any, that may be suitable for settlement on an economic basis of production? As one of the keenest supporters of the Government’s land settlement policy has confessed with astounded anxiety, the official report on the cost of breaking in North Auckland gumlands is “startling and alarming.” That expenditure ranged from £25 to £4l an acre. Are there any British capitalists prepared to finance group settlement on these terms when good land forty miles from London is neglected at £lO an acre? What is wanted most today is not land settlement at a ruinous cost, but a greater development of manufacturing industires, so as to secure a more even balance between agriculture and manufactures.

TELEPHONE DEVELOPMENT

TELEPHONES form such an excellent source of revenue for the Post and Telegraph Department that the announcement of the formation of a commercial branch of the telephone administration service is by no- means premature. Operating at first in the four centres, and later throughout the country as evidence of a demand for their services appears, the representatives of the commercial branch will give advice to business firms and other subscribers on the operation of their telephones, and how they may be used to widen business or commercial contacts. Large industrial or mercantile concerns will be given expert advice as to the nature of inter-communicating systems best suited to their needs, and the spirit of helpfulness manifested in this and other directions will no doubt go a long way toward popularising the activities of the department. While it is very pleasant to see a Government department showing such an appreciation of modern business needs, many will reflect that the popularity of the telephone system in this country warranted such an innovation years ago. Most business concerns make it a principle to maintain between themselves and their clients a bond of goodwill established by all sorts of little favours, but Government departments have in the past shown a tendency to overlook this unwritten obligation and, though tlie New Zealand telephone service has been efficiently and progressively operated up to a point, there has been evidence of a “take it or leave it” attitude not at all in keeping with present-day requirements.

Now that the operations of the telephone system are to be supported by a commercial branch, it will be as well for the department to consider by what other methods it may popularise its services. For a start, there is the question of rentals. New Zealanders rank third highest among the world’s telephone users, but we pay an entirely disproportionate rental rate. The telephone branch of tlie P. and T. Department is showing a handsome profit. It handled a, gross revenue of nearly one and a-half million pounds last year, and in the circumstances a reduction in the scale of rentals would seem justified. Another question that demands attention is the amalgamation of small semi-suburban exchanges into those of tlie cities and larger towns. The New Zealand telephone'system is overburdened with toll districts. It is painfully irritating to be charged a fee for telephoning between Auckland and places like Otahuhu or St. Heliers.