DEVELOPING WASTE LANDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 981, 26 May 1930, Page 6

DEVELOPING WASTE LANDS

TOUR BY AUCKLAND MEN BIG AREAS AVAILABLE Intensive areas in the Whangarei, Dargavillo and Bay of Islands districts have recently been visited by delegates of the New Zealand Land Settlement League—Messrs. W. J. Koldsworth, M. G. McArthur, R. Glover Clark and N. G. Grabble. Undeveloped lands, suitable for development, were inspected and branches of tlio league were formed. The delegates state that the country people in the districts visited were appreciative of the league’s work. Mr. Gribble replied to a statement made by Mr. J. R. Franklin, at the interprovincial . conference of the Farmers’ Union at Whangarei, that the league's policy of wholesale closer settlement was impossible. Mr. Gribble said that the present was a time for courage, but he did not wish the Minister of Lands, the lion. G. \V. Forbes, to be rash. It was difficult to explain the disparity between Sir Joseph Ward’s opinion that =.">00,000 people should be placed on the land and the 154 holdings quoted officially as the result of the department’s work. When the present unemployment position was considered there were opportunities to do things .quickly. Luring their tour the delegates saw land which could be brought in under the league’s proposals at a low cost. These proposals covered the wholesale .preparation of large areas of land by nechanical means and co-operative effort. Much land in the areas visited could #'h© fenced and brought into profit at the > ate of £ 8 to £lO a n acre. In the Whangarei, Dargaville and Bay of Islands districts several of the farmers were so impressed by the league’s proposals that they offered to assist in an honoredry capacity. There is no shortage of hind in the opinion of the delegates. lAmdreds of families could be settled. Conditions in the Hokianga district were slightly different as there was a good deal of bush land in that area. 'However, farmers in the neighbourhood assured the delegates that there were a number of young men awaiting a chance to take up land still owned by the Crown. One-third of the land on capital value was not paying rates in .th© Hokianga County and in the Mangonui County 75 per cent of the land did not pay rates. This placed heavy burdens on those districts.