ADVANCES TO SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 July 1920, Page 5

ADVANCES TO SOLDIERS.

TEE STOPPAGE OF GRANtS. :l MEETING OF PROTEST. M As part of the plan if the New ZIM land Returned Soldiers' Association ( hold "zero hour" meetings of (jrotrffl against tho action of the Govenmumi&fl , curtailing the advances to soMtac* [ the purchase of farms and | under Section 2 of the Ditcjuuggfl Soldiers' Settlement Act, a public ing was held in the Soldierß Club, Nml ' Plymouth, last evening. The MwjM (Mr. Jas. Clarke) presided $ J | Lieut.-Colonel 0. H. Weston, DJ?.0,,i18 apologising for not being able toattlrafl the meeting, expressed his sywpatjH . with the Association insisting uppn. ,ufl i returned men being given equal tunities for purchasing land, ' "J Captain MacDiarmid, president of fMU Nfitf Plymouth R.S.A.i -inoved title |Sjl lowing resolution smbniitted byDomfcW ion headquarters of the AssociatiOtts-w^S "That this public Meeting, ktfMM taken into consideration tae. alatMM ments of the Prime Mlntntay Minister of Lands finance of the Dominion ud the/pjllfl eible effect of the continuance present scheme of advance?-HB<|er tSfl D.S.S. Act in further i»w|i|y||y price of land, still considers thkt only equitable and honorable cooj9H open to Parliament it:— , '"HM (a) To make the benefits ofthe Act available to all present entitled to Mft Mn and so to avoid pannltolngi soldiers who have but recestfy ml turned to New Zealand, or luml lately been released froft'lKxtitiH or have lately completed tittjil period of training under the , patriation Department; and*. .'M (b) To provide that any lots igfl curred in so doing shallbe boniifß 'by the country as a wholes ■ jfl Speaking to the resolution, Captaiofl MacDiarmid said that a pnblto had been called because of {fte ettrtawfl ment of the advances affected aqt «glw the returned soldiers bttt the- pAHp well. Parliament in passing thl did so because the people of land insisted on it. and the GovernMMtfl had given a promise that the piMstplfl of the Act would be carried out. aPmH Cabinet, was, to a great extent npnlfflnH ing that promise, *and it was the diiiKaH the public to insist that the tHNfIUNM they had made through the GoYenSfiSS should be kept. Mr. Leo Sim seconded the motion. , '9 Captain "W, B. Hawkins remarked tfiil while _ acting as organiser for tin jtiffl sociation he had seen a great the estates purchased by the Govern*® ment for soldier contended that the Government in Vwil chasing these estates was more onieenil ed about helping its own pollttoUniifl porters than of assisting the As an instance, he mentioned tate of 10,000 acres in the WainotHH which had been purchased from a ctxoSH supporter of the Reform Party in l»jH That estate now had 17 soldiers nnttM and a few weeks ago tho County fHfIM cij had threatened u> sue the men foil ; payment pf rates, but he hoped the fitffM would be defended, and to (bow tfttfffljwß some of the soldier settlers beinp exploited. The unimproved VSrafß of that estate in 1916, said 'Hawkins, was £19,000, and the value £44,<JOQ. The GovernmentffijM paid £BI,OOO for this block and, fcufl spent £7OOO in surveying it so t&ffH when the soldiers Vent on it they, rojnfl loaded with s.n * estate which coat tijiß Government £B§,ooo, and for which Sfilß owner had been paying rates on a v£Hu9 of only £19,000. In 1919, when thelM soldiers were on the estate, the, wflfjW proved value had beeni raised to an increase of 100 per cent, on tfeeTunH able value of the land, while f our flthMW estates of better land owned by inilMH squatters, had had the raised by only 36 per cent. ' were absolute facts; declared OitSXjjjH Hawkins. . " §?■ Captain Hawkins then moved ' « "That the Government lie ieiipMt«J to publish a return of all estatfcpml chased under the Land for Settitaenfft! Act for soldier settlement, up to iMkjs 30, 1020, such returns to show:*— (a)' Owners of respective estates; (b) Locality of such estates, together' with area, and price paid per acre, and the unimproved valve * and,'! capital value per acre at ttye of ' purchase, giving date when' jradi : 3 valuation was made; %. "1 (c). The area of each estate not oe« cupied by soldier settlers on May 30, 1920." J The Mayor remarked that he diA not think the' stoppage of grants waff {wfr manent, because it was impossiHt .tlj believe that Parliament would vote fresh money for the puittMK air; placing soldiers on farms. • litAnpjfatil* ion a lot of blunders regard to soldier settlement,;-nSHfiBM these was the putting of at too high a price. Also instances where soldiers hal soltfiaWM farms at from £ls to £2O an fore goihg to the war and having the same farms after their retljjft tttrV from £3O to £4O an acre. The Gotifpru* jfl ment could if it wished, raise the fNfney V by taxing more heavily the people; vho had the money. At the same tin* wished to point out that the. were paying too much "lor their Ifmd, fl and if tho price ,of piquets feQ the ■ Government woajd have-to .■ save the mon from- ruin. '■ wished to support'the resolution, ty&WjM Aid- not like encouraging the nent to continue its policy of soldiers to take up more dear land[. _ After further discussion, both reMlttvS tions were carried unanimously,';' '* ! H Similar meetings in other centre! in fl reported in Press Association ivliich report larffe meetings carrying of resolutions callin|*ofT r the '■ jovernment to carry out its pledge. I