The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1920. SETTLEMENT OF SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 May 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1920. SETTLEMENT OF SOLDIERS.

The Minister of Lands has recently furnished a statement detailing what has been accomplished by the Government in the direction of settling returned soldiers on the land, and otherwise providing them with the means of obtaining a livelihood. The figures are certainly impressive, inasmuch as the total expended to April 30, 1920, amounted to £16,324,634, while the number of men provided for in this way was 13,684. An examination of the transactions shows that only 899 of these settlers were placed on Crown land and national endowment land, and that 6826 of the total number were assisted to purchase town dwellings. The outsanding features of the operations under the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act are that, so far as production is concerned, 1 5959 men took up land already profit-bearing, consisting altogether of 1,222,195 acres of land that had to be purchased, while 899 have to bring into cultivation 897,908 acres belonging to the State. The purchase of private land together with estates obtained nnder the Lands for Settlement Act absorbed £10,015,212, to which lias to be added £1,854,634 for "stock and improvements, while the purchase of town dwellings involved an outlay of £4,454,708, besides which the Government has acquired a further 206,688 acres (which are now being subdivide 1) at a cost of £1,680,571, making the total outlay by the Lands and Land Purchases Departments on behalf of soldier settlement £18,005,195. No wonder the Minister of Lands declared that the Department couldnotkeep up the pace, and that it would have to taper off its policy of granting advances to soldiers—a course that has caused great concern among the large number of men who are still waiting for a chance to settle on the land. No doubt the Government was desirous to speed up the settlement of the returned soldiers, but if proper supervision had been exercised the available funds would not have been used up so recklessly. The lapid spending of over ten millions in buying up land naturally inflated values abnormally. No legislation was passed to protect the State's interests and those of the soldier settlers by providing safeguards against exploitation; the inevitable happened, the money was used up and a halt had to be called. ] The position now is that the accumulated surpluses wherewith this land business has been financed have been exhausted and other money as well. How ar-) the men to*""get on who are still waiting for land? . Obviously the system hitherto adopted cannot be continued, although Mr. Massey has declared that the Department will "go on as usual." If i necessary capital is to be proviScd by taxation the people will suffer, and if by a loan, the money will have to be found in the Dominion, and though there is a very large amount of unemployed capital, the needs for public works, housing, hydro-electric power, and other urgent requirements, 'let alone industrial development, will all have to be met out of local money, as a loan on the London market at present rates would be quite unjustifiable. The immediate need is for a businesslike policy that will recognise the probable total cost of soldier settlement and provide for the same accordingly. It was a grave omis sion on the part of the National Government not to have formulated a comprehensive scheme three years ago, when steps might have been taken to acquire land by degrees on the basis of the then assessment, The lack of preparation will result in- a seri ■ ous handicap of the soldier sett lers by reason of the inflated prices of land, and the failure to open up the best of the Crown lands awaiting occupation. The problem is one that Parliament should deal with promptly and fully, or the Government will find itself unable to redeem its pledge to the returned men. It will be impossible to go on as usual with this important work, and it is equally impossible to depend on a miracle happening. The Minister's statement of the quantity of land that will soon be aavilablc is satisfactory as far as it goes, but this process of forecasting does not provide the capital' required, jwd it yjll bs extricate ffiWßSt

to those who are forced to wait if thereby they lose the opportunity of a good start and have to contend straight away with re duced prices for produce. In the, interests of a fair deal all round the problem should be tackled as a whole and solved accordingly.