The Daily News. TUESDAY. OCTOBER 31, 1911. LAND SETTLEMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 111, 31 October 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY. OCTOBER 31, 1911. LAND SETTLEMENT.

The question of land settlement is the most important one before the country, because on it depends almost wholly our future progress and prosperity. 'That land settlement has not progressed as it should have done must be apparent to any but the blindest political partisan. Our people want land, but are being turned hungry away, hi IAOS-!) less than 1.5 per cent, of the applicants for Crown lauds secured sections; in the following year the percentage of successful applicants was only 12 per cent., whilst, last year there were SOO sections for (1.517 applicants. Tims only one in eight, have any chance of obtaining land at the land ballot. This is not as it should be. The Crown domains are, if is true, being reduced year by year, but: the Maori lands and the big estates of the pakeha should be drawn upon to appease the land hunger. The operations of the Land for Settlement Act are practically suspended because of the inability of the (loverninent. to purchase estates at prices which they consider reasonable, and the increased graduated land tax has admittedly failed in its primary purpose. namely, the subdivision of the big ,estates. This is the position, and the

(I < > void nicnt during t In; prist session set themselves the tusk (if remedying it. Tlic Lund for Settlement Act is to lie amended ill the direction of resuming land at its real instead of fancy value, and tlie methods of resunip.tion are to lie greatly simplified and facilitated The scope of the Land Setllemcnt Finance Act is being greatly widened and extended, giving the man without means the opportunity of possessing the fee-simple of an improved section in any locality. Land 'banks are to be established, the Government guar-

I anteeing the capital and the settlers I jointly and severally being responsible I for the payment of the loans made. In j this respect we are much behind some » of the continental countries, where similar systems have been in successful operation for years. Now, the Premier has brought down a Bill which promises to mark a new epoch in land settlement. It ds really (in extension of the Land Settlement Finance Act, and contains proposals for the compulsory purchase of lands ahead of road and railway construction, these areas being settled under deferred payment conditions —conditions which, we might parenthetically remark, were responsible for the successful close settlement of many blocks in Taranaki. Native lands not required by the Maoris also come under the compulsory purchase clauses, but this provision will be accompanied by greatly improved borrowing facilities for natives who wish to develop their land themselves. The only pity is that such a system was not in ' force years ago before works like the Main Trunk railway were completed. Then the people would have been comfortably settled on sections of their o"wn and not at the mercy of hordes of speculators who have been and are out to exploit the public, or the I sections arc in the hand of the

Maoris, who are now basking in the •sunshine of prosperity and reaping big incomes from the sale of timber rights and leasing of the land to Europeans. Provision is made in the Bill that wherever a railway is under construction a map is to be prepared showing the position and area of all Crown and private (European and native) lands which the railway will connect, and the land which the railway will open are to be acquired by the Crown. If the price cannot be amicably arranged between the Government and the owners, the land is to be taken ccmpulsorily. This is the first time, said the Premier when introducing the measure, that a proposal has been

made in legislation by tlie Government to take native land compiilsorilv, and it is not before time. As we liave so often said before, it is the greatest folly in the world to allow huge areas of Maori lands to lie unused when there is everywhere in the Dominion such a great and unsatisfied demand for land and to pamper the native in the way we have been doing If he cannot or ) will not use the land, he should make ] way for the European. Experience lias j shown tliat the Maori's salvation lies in j work, but the tendency so far has been ] to render this quite unnecessary, and to exempt him from the obligations which bind his white brothers. The interests, of the country demand that this state of things should be put a stop to, and it is satisfactory to find that a start is to. be made at last. AVhen compelled to, the average Maori can work well and hold his own with the pakeha. This is shown in different parts of this province where the Maori is engaged in dairying, a work which seems specially suited to him. In advancing money to Maoris care, however, must be taken that it is •expended in legitimate improvements and not wasted in the same way that the rents of many are at present. The experiment of helping the Maori to help himself is in the right direction. It is a welcome departure from the propping process. The other proposals in the Bill are equally satisfactory. Provision is made for family settlements, which are to be composed of not less than ten, nor more than twenty, families. As far as possible, the board is to consult the wishes of the families desiring to be grouped together for settlement pur. poses, and the individual "family" areas are not to exceed 400 acres. This grouping of families was years ago tried with most successful results in the Forty-mile Bush district, and must act as an inducement to settlement in the 'outposts." reducing the loneliness and monotony of the life of the pioneers. Provision is also to be made for settlers on individual settlement lands being employed on railway or road construction works until the land has been brought into cultivation. This, too, must assist settlement, as it assisted settlement in Taranaki, The land is to be disposed of by tender or public auction, with a payment of o per cent, deposit. This also is an important departure from the present system of balloting, and will ensure people getting the land they want at a price they themselves assess it at. There are other features in the Bill which should meet with the approval of the country and make for a much desired acceleration in the settlement of land and the appeasement of the land hunger. We notice that it meets with the hearty support of the Leader of the Opposition. A land measure 011 which both he and the Premier are in agreement must have some merit. The°subject of land settlement, is a national and not a party one, and it is satisfactory to see each side of the House striving to (improve the present conditions of settlement. Willi some of the conditions of the Land for Settlement Act revised and a substantial .increase made 111 the graduated la nil tax, we should, with the latest land ami financial schemes of the Go-

vernment in operation, have gone a long "'ay towards solving the land probloin.