AGGREGATION AND ADMINISTRATION.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 143, 20 June 1916, Page 6

AGGREGATION AND ADMINISTRATION.

The debate on the second reading of the Soldiers’ Land Settlement Bill wandered over the whole face of the land question, but was marked by an / earnest desire on the part of all the speakers to make generous provision for the men who had offered their lives to the Empire. There was a gratifying absence of parochialism from the speeches, the South Island members cheerfully conceding there were wider opportunities for settlement in the North Island than there were in their own part of the Dominion, but Mr. George Witty called the attention of the Minister, to the aggregation that was going on even in Canterbury, the ‘ very home of close settlement, and Mr, Massey promised to see if any of the aggregated estates could be made available to, soldiers. Strangely enough it wa s Mr. Guthrie, the senior Reform Whip, who first voiced the suggestion that a new department should be created to take over the work contemplated by the Bill and that its administration should be entrusted to a Minister with more leisure than Mr. Massey can expect to have during the continuance of the war. The suggetsion was warmly taken up by Mr. Forbes and Mr. Craigie and other members with practical knowledge of the needs of the position, and as Mr. MacDonald, the Minister of Agriculture, has exceptional qualifications for this special work it is not unlikely it will be handed over to him in the near future. No one doubts Mr. Masseys zeal on behalf of the returned soldiers, but with growing responsibilities it is highly desirable he should obtain relief somewhere.