The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1920. STATE CORNER IN LAND.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3462, 16 April 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1920. STATE CORNER IN LAND.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post; and Waimarino ) News.” Y

The land question generally, and particularly in the great rural district of which Taihape is the centre, is undeniably of engrossing importance. It has been pointed out time after time, inside this district and by newspapers not in the district, that there are bars to the progress of settlement ‘that should not be permitted to remain. ‘A demand has -been voiced again and again‘, increasing in power luntil it has become a hopeless thun[derous growl, for the settlement of ‘land that is on a level with the best lin the Dominion. Privately owned ‘land is not referred to, for it is fully -acknowledged that the men who pioIneered this district are entitled to what should be the recompense for the privatio-ns they -have suffered. It is the State's deliberate holdup of land of the highest quality that we are most concerned about, together with the Prime Minister’s statement about the Government's intention to ‘put sawmills into its timber reserves to cut‘ timber for the ‘erection of homes for the thousands of homeless families. The ..Welfare League recently published an appeal in connection. with the special needs of Wellington for. workers’ homes, and the Premier thereafter intimated that a large number of houses were to be commenced upon in the immediate future, that the Government would }import the ironmongery and glass un[obtainable in the Dominion, and mill ‘their own timber. It seems, however, from the fact that the State milling of timber is to commence in the Auckland province that it is the northern end -of the Island that housebuilding is to be firstly and chiefly prosecuted. Is the Vvelfare League lnoting what istaking place, and are [the members of its executive on the jalert to see that the “special needs of Wellington,\” are not side-tracked ‘by house-building in Auckland, where ‘the need has not been designated as Fof a special character? Surely it can[not be that the Premier intends to mill timber in the Auckland province land rail it all the way down to Weljlington for building workers’ homes, because such a decision would considerably influence the price the timber would cost the workers. If timber is required by -the Government, and Mr Massey is determined to do his own milling for the erection of workers’ homes we woulclppoint out that by commencing on the timfber reserve at Omatane, a few miles from Taiha-pe, and just alongside Utiku, the State might kill two birds with one stonew Perhaps the Premier knows betteri than We do that at Omatane :1. settle-j ment was surveyed and laid out; that} the land is of very high quality and that rural sections were made of an area suitable for -dairy farming, yet‘ where the industrial and producingpulse beats hardest and heaviest in the Wellington province, alongside a virile centre like Taihape, where hum‘ dreds of returned soldiers are clamouring for land and cannot get it; while the State is paying prices to] private individuals for lands for soldier settlement that can only ultimately result in failure, and in the land passing out of the soldiers? hands back into State Dossession, there is this Omatane laid out settlement", a. few miles. from Taihape, locked up by the Government as a timber reserve. We have no doubt about this timber re-

iserve being overlooked, but men who ‘are paid to keep Ministers informed should not have omitted to keep such la reserve under Ministerial notice. .There are three pressing reasons why lthe Omatane settlement should be ‘proceeded with, with. the least pos{sible delay, indeed we may say four, lthe headings of which are taxation, ‘settlement, timber and production. Firstly, it is a scandal that dairying ‘country should Ibe locked up as a timber reserve in the midst of closely ‘settled country while Government valuations of land are. increasing with almost lightning speed. Since 1914 the valuations of land have increased by £47,000,000——-unimproved valueand the North Island has contributed no less than £35,-108,000, an increase of 25 per cent. in the North Island, and 13 per cent. in the South Island. Is it just that taxation should thusly be thrust upon privately owned, and closely worked land near Taihape while the Governiment keeps a large area of dairying land in the midst of it locked up as a timber reserve? Why should settlers around the Omatane reserve be compelled to go on adding thousands of pounds to the value of the locked up Omatane Government it-imber reserve, while it is blocking Rsettlement and its timber is urgenily .needed, and, not least, while it conItributes no taxation necessary for roading and bridging. Secondly, the demand for land for cl-ose settlement in small areas at a reasonable price ;iS indeed great, and it is doubtful 3whether the local Soldiers’ Association could not absorb the whole of the Omatane Gpvernment reserve. Timber sanctuaries are advisable and necessary, but surely they were never intended to be serious bars to settlement and —a hardship to taxpayers around them. Where now timber is being nursed, and settlement is building up huge unearned. in-crement for the State, there should be a flourishing dairying district. Thirdly, the timber on the Omatane reserve will never be wanted worse than it is.at the present time, for conditions brought about by war and its resultant orgy of profiteering are not likely to recur again. in the next century. Timber is wanted for houselbuilding in the Wellington province and the Government. starts milling timber in the Auckland province.’ One would be led to -think it was a purely Auckland Administration that. was in‘ power, or why mill timber in Auckland while timber reserves at Omatane are blocking the settlement of dairying land? There are sawmillers cutting ‘out timber on poorer country alongside Omatane, why not come to an arrangement for those millers to cut the Omatane reserve for the State to build workers’ homes with? It is not (understandable why a timber reserve should be left as a block to settle'nlent, contributing no i:axat.ion in a heavily‘ taxed district. Fourthly, the State is irnportuning by slogan only ‘for production and still more production, for settlement and still more !S€LtlGlllellt, and yet it remains hidebound to- the needs of settlement while butter producing country is insanely used as, a timber reserve, and the people of this Dominion are seriously threatened with compulsion‘ to eat oleo-margarine. Will the great army of workers, who produce all the riches this young country owns, who man all the industries, and lbring virgin land inth a state of pl'oducl'ion. be compelled to eat synthetic butter, |the greasy oleo-margarine made in America, Britain and, perhaps. in'Gel'mnny, while the butter they produce is sent away for the use of the filthily rich who are oppressing them and thrusting them into the condition of not being allowed to eat the production of their own labours, but are to be t:l'eated like dogs by having the product of foreign grease factor-ies thrown to them? This is really the [condition of -affairs that may l'O{l.\‘3ll-Rb‘-Y be expected from what is hap-1 lpening in the conduct ‘or this richi young Dominic-n’s affairs. The press[lug demand. the supreme need at‘ the People is for housing accommodation land for the means of living; yet the. {timber ‘for houses is kept cornered in places like the Omatane reserve awhile by virtue of unprecedented shortage timber becomes unprocurable for house-building, and dairying land is kept cornered lby the Government] while the masses of the people arel threatend with oleo—margarine. While: their Government corners ‘timber and dairying land, how long will people’ remain happy in a homeless condition, and how long will they remainscon-I1 tent to see the butter they make ex- , ported to Britain‘ for the use of commercialist "kings and their ladies, and allow those same commercialist kings g to send back their filthy oleo—mar.C,’-”ll'-in”e ,which they consider good enough I for workers and their wives in this Dominion? There a.re_ liundreds of‘ thousands of acres ‘Mound Taihape that could be madeto produce twicei what they. are producing, but the State is tightly locking up land that is capable oi’ supplying. the two supreme needs of the time-food and timber. . A ‘ C "G