“DANGER OF STAMPEDE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 979, 23 May 1930, Page 6

“DANGER OF STAMPEDE”

LAND SETTLEMENT POLICY “CAN GO ON TOO FAST” Press Association WANGANUI, Today. That the settlement of land could be carried on too fast in New Zealand and that there was a danger of the Government being stampeded into a policy of settlement that would bring about a similar state of affairs to that which arose when the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act had been in operation a few years was the opinion of Mr. J. R. Franklin given expression to at the interprovincial conference of the Farmers’ Union at Wanganui yesterday. “I am not against settlement and the development of unoccupied land,” said Mr. Franklin, “but I do not agree with a great deal of what was said by the Lands Development Board of Auckland and its policy of wholesale settlement. I say that is impossible. The board says that the Minister of Lands is too cautious, but I do not agree with that. You had sufficient proof of wholesale settlement when the country was stampeded into settling returned soldiers on the land and we lost £8,000,000. “It is up to the Farmers* Union to see that that doesn’t occur again. I fully agree that the land was bought in the boom, but the real trouble was that there were too many square pegs in round holes. Many a settler went on to property and then abandoned it. “I believe the time is coming when we shall have closer settlement of our large holdings, but we can’t do it quickly. It is not fair to the board and to the Minister of Lands to say that they are not taking a courageous policy.’’ Mr. Franklin’s views were endorsed by the conference and he was applauded for his forceful appeal.