LAND TOE RETURNED MEN.

Taihape Daily Times, 29 August 1918, Page 2

LAND TOE RETURNED MEN.

PUMICE AND GUM COUNTRY. | MINISTER'S EXPLANATION. i WELLINGTON, August 26. "Some newspapers are criticising the administration of the department J with regard to settlement of returned i soldiers, because it is not taking up j the cheap pumice and gum lands of I the North,'' stated the Minister for Lands, yesterday. "We do not need public criticism to acquaint us with

, the fact that we have thousands of l acres of very cheap lands of that des- < ription but the Government recog- . nises what these critics apparently do

not, and that is that the men who are at present returning have been wounded, or have broken down with the strain of fighting, and arc weakened, physically to such ian extent that it would be cruelty, to place them on land from which, fOT a very long time they would have no prospect of financial return.

"The experience of the department is that most of the men we haye to [ provide with land require comfortable j homes, and the means of making ian ] immediate return. A few of the men I require large areas for sheep farming and for large mixed farming, and this | need is being supplied. A few who are j sufficiently strong have the opportuni ity of taking ff, bush lands, which I they can cultivate with the assistance I of Government advances and thus earn the cost of their improvements in the shape of wages for themselves, and I eventually reap the full advantage of increased value of their holdings. REGULATIONS MADE. ADVANCES TO SELECTORS. New regulations under the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act provide that the amount of advance that may be made to any one person on land acquired under the Act shall not exceed £SOO, but the . Minister may, if in his opinion special circumstances render this amount inadequate, authorise an additional advance not exceeding £250. In -no case shall the amount advanced for building exceed £250. The. amount of advance of any person for the purchase of a dwelling and appurtenances on other than rural land shall not exceed the sum of £IOOO , and for any other purpose shall not j exceed £2500. The rate of interest will be 5 per .cent, and the amount will be | repayable by half-yearly instalments | extending over a period of 36i years. I Land set apart for the purpose of providing soldiers' dwellings shall be divided into such allotments as the | Minister may direct, and the Minister may cause to be erected buildings j sutable for soldiers' residences, or may | convert any buildings already on the ' land into soldiers' residences. The | capital value of any dwelling so dis- \ posed of shall not exceed £IOOO. The Land Board, with the consent of the Minister, may dispose of any allotment to a discharged soldier under an agreement to purchase. The amount of the purchase money will be paid by monthly instalments extending over a period of 25A years at the rate of lis Sd per month for every £IOO including in the balance of capital j value.