CURRENT TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3618, 3 November 1920, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

(By Argus.) . The Chamber of Commerce, at its meeting on Monday, missed an opportunity of advocating a policy of the settlement of at present undeveloped areas of land which it has been proved \ can be made productive. The tapu Settlers’ Association has prepared an elaborate booklet showing what has already been done in the way of developing pumice lands. The photographs show root crops and cereals, and stock equal to any produced in New Zealand, and are no doubt surprising to those who have for years been prejudiced against any attempt to develop the vast areas of pumice lands in the Dominion. The development of such areas; concerns Taihape, as there are hundreds of thousands of acres of this class of land in the Taihape district. The Chamber of Commerce apparently does not realise that the development of Mangaohane, Ngamatea, Waiouru and, other vast areas of pumice land would be of'benefit to the town and district; but it has been conclusively proved that such lands can be made productive, and there is no reason why they should be held as pastoral runs as at present. Just imagine the /benefits which could be derived if the half million acres of pumice land were settled by men who would use Taihape as their business centre; but the Chamber merely “ received” the letter without realising its local importance.

The discussion on the Housing Act Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives last week gave very little indication of any genuine desire to find a solution Df the problem of housing the people. In fact, it would appear that the chief consideration of those in. charge of the Bill was to protect the landlords at the expense of the tenant and of the country as a whole. Under the Act, a landlord is given power to apply to a Magistrate for 1 i permission to increase the rent of a | j house to seven per cent of the valuation at the time the application is made. The reason given for sanctioning this inequitable measure was that nothing should be done to the. building of houses. Just consider,, J from your own local knowledge, how. such a provision would, work. A fiveroomed house built before the war, cost £250, was sold in 1914 for £350, theowner refused £7OO for the property in 1917, and in 1920 he' wants £9OO cash: for'it. Is that landlord entitled to. charge a tenant renj/ on the basis of ; seven per cent, on a valuation of £900,,, when bis outlay was only £350? If the. owner paid £9OO for the house,) and- the, increase from its original value of £250 was due to-various spee : , ulations, is it-right to saddle the latest, tenant with a,rental based on the high-. est value created by a series of speculations? Such a proposal may justly beregarded as one of the most iniquitous ever placed on the Statute Bood-

4 ■ In connection mth the agitation for a separate hospital district with a base hospital at Taihape, when is some definite move going to be made? The whole business was badly arrang- ( ed in the first place, as the passing: of resolutions and forwarding them ,* to the various other bodies asking for good result. So far, nothing has been support was not likely to have any gained, and the proposal has not been advanced in any way. If the Borough Council convened a conference of oil the local bodies affected, and if the matter was then fully discussed a satisfactory conclusion would be reached.

The returned soldiers, through thmr organisation, have been advocating anincrease in the scale of pensions for disabled men and the dependents cf soldiers. It is. claimed that the pensions scale was not adequate when rff was drawn up, and is,Jess so now that the cost of living has increased by about 80 per cent. The recent Conference of Patriotic Societies was unanimous in recommending that all societies should conserve their funds for the assistance «f disabled men, and as the patriotic societies genc'r- ; ally will act up to the recommendaI tions of the Conference, the. position I created will be that the only men en- \ ! titled v tO‘ grants will be tbe disabled ' ; men. If the Patriotic Societies fecog- | nise the need for conserving their funds for disabled men only, they apparently recognise that the pensions paid to these men are not adequate, and the Societies have thus taken, ~ step which will strengthen the case of the disabled men in tTmlr claim . for increased "pensions. It. does not seem a fair thing that tbe Government should fail to recognise the need for increased, pensions when practically every Patriotic Society in Now Zealand has recognised the need for conserving their funds for the use of the men. It appears that the Government is not willing to recognise its .respnnsibilitifls so long os t''e Patriotic Societies arc willing to the work for them.