The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1919. LAND SETTLEMENT DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENT.

Taihape Daily Times, 6 October 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1919. LAND SETTLEMENT DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENT.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News.” -

The urgent need for land Settlement ’ has been voiced bynearly every meml ber of Parliament that has spoken in the debate on the Financial Statement. And while many -novel proposals for l irnprovenient and many very useful suggestions were made, none -are more to i the point than those impressed upon the House by Mr R, VV. -Smith, memberf-0-r Waimarino. hlr Smith said he was of opinion that the day of big land hold‘ings ‘in this country was past. The igreatest danger now was Bolshevism, lextremism, and it was going to get }quite a.,10t of support unless Parliament provided for a bigger propdrtilon of people in the country -becoming posgessed of a part of thateountry, of becoming shareholders -in_,nt_he_ - country. Continuing, ,Mr_ Smith said, “We could not altogether blame -a, man, who, after years _o§gstriving h_ad.l_lo_stake in the country, becoming lsomething of a.n extremist; and hegconten-ded that if his policy‘was adopted it would constritu/te a protecion to all men on the land, big an%little.” "Mr R. W- Sm'ith’s opinions, on the land sct.tlelhent question are found sandwiched in between other speeches on that sonic subject; smallness of bull: in coinrparisoni is because they are shorn of ‘every vestige of padding, plausibility, and suavity. There is no sugar-coating arou‘n<l -them; they were drawn frpm him by the widely difi‘erin’g opinions expressed by others, but‘ a whole book could be written upon them. T’ll'is country’s danger is Bolshevism, extl'elni<sm,, brought? about, suggests Mr Smith, by a policy that is forcing populati-oln off the land into cities; taking them from producing and settling them amongst non-produc_-‘mg communities. By :1 successful land policy a great human stream olf the land into cities has developed to alarming dimensions. The land, from whence all wealth comes, is being taken from ‘the people, and I the increasing body of landless men and their families are swelling the ranks of parasites on production in ci:ti'es, where the struggle for life in vitiated -atniospheres becomes more and more ‘intense. air Sn-.ith sees in this growing scandal the 'h«‘.bc«rl. of Bolshevisum producing its crop of "virus at.h-ait must eventually aifect and completely destroy our sozial and industrial life; he sees a monster of extremism raising its hydra-head and already conimencing to omit the poison thattcnds to involve the country into civil War; that may yet succeed in converting our towns and homes into shambles with spilling of human blood. The land policy that has forced pcopl'c out of the country into towns is responsible for whatever crop of Belshevism this country may reap. New Zealand is no different from Russia, or any other country in this respect, and Mr Smith bluntly, shortly, saying all that was necessary without clouding , his meaning, tells"Parliam'ent he is of‘ opinion that: in; getting the human 1 stream ‘turned back from cities on to] the land lies the only safety for thosei engaged in this coun.tl'y’s pl'odu.ctElon.| Common_ sense will dictate the most: rapid, method, [but using millions of public money in entering into land pur- I chase competition can only result in] intensifying the evil. Mr Smith said‘ there was no better way to get a man to take a. rational View than to give him a stake in the country. Is it not an appalling fact that the Government is selling land to soldier settlers at an I Oufrageously impossible price? It is well i known that-‘many of those soldiers are i taking up this ridiculously high-priced land, feeling sure that the country will Come to the assistance if values recedc and ‘misfortune overtakes them through no fault of their own. Even strong SllPPol‘ters of the Government that has bl"o'l£Zht in so disastrous a land policy, are now urging, in Parliament, that it is sheer madness for Governmengt. to, go on paying the stupidly high prices that can only lead to worse and worse GollflifionS.i Mr Massey ’s followers are telling him, in the pfcggnt.-d_ebau3_,, ‘than-, hi‘? Land‘ Polioy must, and will, break

down, and they al.'é.l':'-a(l\'ocatillg that

gland should be C-Tonslm-ipted, as men ‘were conscripted; that: only pre-war prices should be paid for it, or that it 'should be taken at Government valuaI tion with ten per c'ent added. But: this 7 outburst of land policy of magnanimity ‘only springs from fear of the break,down of the policy they have hitherlfo supported. By their present precept and -action they are condemning in the strongest manner the Reform land policy they have hitherto made possible by their support; they are telling the country in plainest language that their land policy was all a. mistake; 3 disastrous blunder, yet they will ask the taxpayers of this little defrauded community to give them another chance to experiment. upon them. The Prime Minister says that big. landowners had offered their land at‘ prewar prices, but we have not heard of it. 'We read that the owner of the Pihaut-ea Estate, somewhere in the Windy soutlicrn VVa.irarapa, offered land for soldier settment at £4O an acre, which is claimed by the erratic Horns. by to be its pre-war value. Bu»’f then Mr Hornsby stated in Parliament that every‘ cow was going to give a return of £1 per week the whole year round, by using «the milk for casein, sugar of milk, and dried-milk making. It is evident that the man who makes such statements cannot realise the fact. that New Zealand cow-farmers have not a World monopoly in casein and dried milk making. It is positively disheartening to see men in Parliament laying it down that New Zealand will import what -bu-“(tor it requires while making cas'ein and sugar of milk. One would thin.k so impractical a man "as Mr I-lornsby i-s would, at least, ask himself whether dairymen would 'go on getting £2O .2, year per cow in supplying New Zealand with butter, while £SO was obtainable by using the milk for other purposes. ' But that is Mr Horns-by’s way of excusing the ‘Government faor selling land to soldiers alt» prices that must result in failure. Such men are? incapable of seeing danger ahead; they would go on until’ raetlll'al.revo‘l'ution. had overtaken 'them. These me.n,are. :a positive danger to the. country; there are no honest royal roads to furtune, and tlle..roads that Reform,ha_,ve made possible are not_.o_nly «dishonest, but dangerous in the ,'extreme. All true patriots‘ i’ully. realise. .tll__e danger, and Mr R. W. Smith has.,tersely stated it and preseribedthc only. rational means of circuniventin-g it.« He said there was no better way t-0 geft man to take a rational View of things than -to give him a stake in the country. The grea’:test menace at this moment is Bolshev-1 ism. says Mr Smith, and unless :1 saner land policy quickly replaces that now} followed by the Government there is going to ‘be a driving of a. large section of labour into the B-olshevik i-‘old. It.‘ conservatism will not accept a" reasonable land policy now, there is strong cause for believing that they will be: compelled to acceptian extreme land policy in the near future. Hornsby-} like, my fail to eori-eei-1y" 'interpro‘t; what is taking placoaroiind them, but‘ Mr B. VV. Smith has, 'unde'niably, sta3’Ced';“ the’ position in a nutshell. Men must! be brought baek“i'rom the ranks ofi mere consumers in Cities to join againi the ranks of production in the country. A strong, liealt-hy, country population is essential to a nation ’s prosperity, and happiness. ’ I