UNEMPLOYMENT FUND

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1082, 20 September 1930, Page 6

UNEMPLOYMENT FUND

EXPENDITURE IN LAND SETTLEMENT SUGGESTION TO MINISTER That portion of the unemployed relief fund, to be created by the 30s unemployment tax, should be expended in the development of the land, was advocated at a meeting of the Land Settlement and Development League yesterday. It was generally held at the meeting that a policy of land development would offer greater benefits to the country than expenditure on unnecessary roading works. It was suggested that a guarantee of part of the interest on capital expended in productive land development works should be made by the Government. This would be preferable to a straight-out advance, as it would encourage private enterprise. It was decided to forward the suggestion to the Minister of Lands. In a detailed report by the secretary, Mr. X. Gribblev of a suggested cadet group settlement scheme, it was proposed that boys, after two years at a farm school, should be formed into groups on selected farms with an agricultural correspondence course. Each group would comprise about 40 boys, and the cadets would work for wages and would be under the direction of an experienced farm manager. It was decided to request the Minister of Lands to give his views on the scheme, the secretary stating that since the proposal had been made public it had created a considerable anTount of interest, and there had been as many as 30 inquiries a week.