The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1920. LAND FOR EX-SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 June 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1920. LAND FOR EX-SOLDIERS.

The annual report of thd N.Z. Returned Soldiers' Association contained (inter alia) some particularly pertinent remarks on the subject of land for returned sol- t dfers. The Association has a landless roll compiled from returns furnished by the various local associations.- On. April 30. this roll contained the names of 643 men desirous of obtaining land, and only twenty-seven of the associations had made their returns. The-report adds:—

"Tn spite of the numbers on the landless roll, it is believed that about J 4000 men have yet to be settled, and it behoves the Government to act quickly and whole-heartedly in the matter, so that the ravenous desire for land may be satisfied. Tho wheels of tho Land Department move slowly, and it is economically unsound to have so many men waiting to attain their object. Doubtless a thoroughly systematised organisation of land settlement would attract many more men, and the productiveness of a district would be increased many fold." The Association does not merely draw attention to this urgent heed for land, and leave the Government without any helpful advice on the matter, but outlines a plan whereby the need can be met —a plan, by the way, that has been advocated in these columns on more than one occasion. The scheme, which was adopted at a special conference of the Association in October last, is founded on the compulsory acquisition of large estates. The solution arrived at was the gradual paring down of large estates of the value of £IOO,000 and over, the owners of whioh were to have land acquired compulsorily from them until the value was £70,000. If the demands for land were not satisfied then, a further paring down (to £50,000) was to take place, and so on until' the demand was satisfied. It is contended that if this paringdown process be carried out, competition in purchasing land would be reduced, productivity stimulated, and the demand for land satisfied. The main points which the Lands Committee" of the Association had to face were: Insufficiency of suitable land; inflation of prices of suitable land; wastage of capital of men in attending land ballots. The solution of the problem by the compulsory acquisition of large estates is one that exactly meets the case. It may reasonably be assumed that the Government is well aware that a drastic step of this nature would accomplish the desired end without inflating land values, but it is quite conceivable there would be the utmost reluctance on the part of Cabinet to agree to this plan being carried out —not because it provides a remedy for the present shortage 1 of suitable land for returned soldiers, but for political reasons. Taking advantage of the boom in lan prices, a few of the large landholders have found it profitable to cut up their holdings, but the time has arrived when the paring down of all large estates has become imperative if the country is to fulfil its pledges to the men who dared all and braved all in the defence of the Empire. Such a elaim far out-weighs all other considerations, and it has the additional merit of greatly increasing the producing power of the Dominion. It is not a question of confiscation or breach of faith. It is a matter of national honor and justice. These large landholders have been, and are, receiving large profits as the result of the services of the sons of the Dominion in the late war. Many of the returned soldiers regard the enhanced prices during and since the war, together with the great rise in land prices, as equivalent to "blood" money. This may be an extreme view, but the underlying principle is one that clamors for recognition. There is no doubt the public, as well as the returned men, feel very keenly the injustice of the present state of affairs re<

garding the large estates. Thousands of men who have been promised land will be provided for them are still landless, whilst a comparatively few men have large holdings which, if reduced to reasonable areas, would provide most, if not all, these returned soldiers with sufficient land to enable them to obtain a comfortable living. We have only to point to the stretch of country between Patea and Wanganui in order to emphasise how easy it would be to bring into close settlement a series of large estates that at present are only producing a tithe of their capacity. It has also to he remembered that New Zealand wants more population, and that immigrants will require land. The first and immediate duty of the Government is to provide land for returned soldiers, and "it is economical/ ly unsound to have so many men waiting to attain their object." There is no other sane course to "take than to eompulsorily acquire large estaates, at a prescribed valuation, giving the owners war bonds in exchange. The Association also urges that Colonel Mitchell's scheme for settlement of fit men on bush and Native lands should be at once put into opera, tion. The contention is unassailable from every point of view, and the execution of this scheme would certainly prove a great national asset. There is yet another class of the returned men whose claim on the immediate attention of the Government is paramount —the T.B. and T.D. soldiers, for whose benefit the adoption of the communal principle (in the form of outside activity) is strongly stressed. Ministers have a way, when viewing matters of this kind, of mainly seeing difficulties. There were far graver difficulties, in the war, and they were overcome by adopting the right measures, and not by inactivity. No "difficulty that can be imagined should be allowed to retard or stand in the way of settling the returned soldiers on the land, and the Government is charged with a solemn obligation to do this, and do it promptly and fully.