The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1919. SOLDIER SETTLEMENT.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3329, 6 November 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1919. SOLDIER SETTLEMENT.

. With which iss incorporatefl “The Taihape Post. and Waimarino News.” :*—*

The failure to provide land for soldier settlement in the Taihape district‘ is nothing short -of a scandal It_ is doubtful whether there is so much land in large holdings, in any other locality in the whole Dominion, and yet none of it can be made available for settlement of the soldiers who went to the war from 11ero.abou';., and who worked on the land prior to leav—ing. If it is not the height of man’s inhumanity to man to allow those soldiers to go on wasting the last shilling they possess in travelling about looking for a place whereon they can commence‘to earn a "living for themselves and riches for the country, then man is completely dehumanised, for nothing more cruel is conceivable. What the intention of the Government can be in forcing so much of the best labour «offthe country into a wasteful state it is difficult to «imagine, unless it is one of the efforts to bring wages down to twelve shillings» a day, the ampunt fixed by the Governmezit, despite what, the co_st of living may be. It is hoped Sir William Fraser and his fellow Ministers are not so callous to the rights _of men who have fought for possession of the land that they are deliberately keeping the -hundreds of tl10llSa1l(ls of all but idlclands in this district closed to soldier settlement for? the purpose of forcing wages down to the Government limit; whether that is the case or not,,it is just what is happening. The soldiers who left the Taihape territory cannot get land, even by travelling to other parts of the Dominion for it. Is it the will of the people that such conditions should obtain, or is it the crassness -of a carehnothing GOVcrnluellt‘3 _, Some of the men were conscripted and compelled to part with the holdings they had broken in, and it is not too much to say that some were insulted While urging that. it was not just to corrnpel them to sacrifieetheir all before Military ‘Appeal Boards. They were forccd to sell their land and now they have ‘returned they find they cannot get it back, even at one hundred per cent. advance in some cases, and the Government that was going to ‘find ‘land for them tells them there is no iland suitable for them, while they {know from experience of the land that there are hundreds of thousands of :acres that are crying out for men to iwork them. It would be far more ihonourable to tell soldiers the truth &about the huge areas of Country in ;this district, to let them unrlerstand. lat once that it has all to go through ;the speeulutor-mill at least once or itwice before it can be of suitable ‘quality for soldiers. It is wonderful lhow the quality of land improves after iii gets out of the possession of the §Govel-nment and into possession of ltllc spcculntor. Was any Government ianywhcre, at any time, in any country is!) determined, so persistently determined, to prevent legitimate farmers igctting possession of the land at first lcost than the present New Zealand [Government is? Mangaohane could {have been secured at first cost, but the Government was not prepared to give what a private buyer was, and so that run, which consists of 2, good proportion of eropable land has to have another profit added should it o\'9lltUfillY be taken. Roads through that and other adjacent country are .=:hortlY to ‘be metalled, giviiig good aqccss to Taihape, when the price of the land will make another bound up‘vard. Present owners bought the land because it was cheap, why did not the Government buy it? It was ‘Offered to them; they knew it was in the market. We believe that no Government has ever permitted such PTofltoßl‘illß in land as is going on in this small country at the present‘ time, M9ll Ylo‘s'Wol'th five pounds five. years ago are now boasting of being worth fifty thoUSand pounds; made out of dflaliflg in land, farmers cannot make a tenth such profits indouble the time While their meat is taken from them. at one-third less than its true value,

Yet. this speculation folly is permitted and encouraged while lhe soldiers who have come back to us cannot get an inch of land to settle on. This journal has, during the past three years urged that every available acre 01"’ land must be made to produce to its fullest capacity if peace and con. tentment are to ‘be distinguishing‘ features in the future, and now, in the dying hOIII‘S ‘Of the present Parliament, the Hon. W. D. S. McDonald, himself a successful farmer, seriously states to the House, “I -think we have passed‘ the stage when the Country can afford to leave any unproductive land in the country. The Government should take POWCI to acquire all unimprove-.1 lands at valuation for the purpose of settlement. Metalled roads should precede settlement of all classes of unimproved land.” How far the land policy outlined by the Hon. W. D. S. McDonald is removed from that of the present Government is very‘obvious; ‘ iwhilc the Government stands for spe-l lculation and aggregation Mr McDonald ‘ \advises that the day has gone by [when the people of New ?):_";eala>.ld can ‘afford to let one acre 01‘ tlleir lan-1 remain unproductive. There are thou['S'{t.!lds of acres of unproductive land in this district that soldiers are anxz lions to take up and render productive, but Goyernment blocks the way. A ‘Splendid grazing run, in the Manga.papa valley, that will in a few years be selling at something I-ike forty pounds an acre, recently rcvertetl to the Government, but the freehold of it ‘was promptly passed over to somebody lalready possessing ample of the ,earth’s surface_ Look where one will, lit is plainly discernible that a land policy fatal to the best interests of ‘the country is being wickedly persistged in. "But when it comes down to buffeting soldiers in this district all over the bominion, filling them up with the belief that land is available ‘elsewhere, it is beyond one’s underlstanding; nrore especially as there are ihugg areas of virtually unimproved ‘land around Taihape that are crying out for settlers. Surely the Government cannot realise the effect its land settlement policy is having upon -the country. It seems. however, that the land game will go on until swindled and 's"wi‘ndlers rise with pistols pointed [at each ‘others’ Vitals.