REPATRIATION WORK

Taranaki Daily News, 11 December 1920, Page 9 (Supplement)

REPATRIATION WORK

SOST TO GOVERNMENT | tOTAL NEARLY £24,000,000 LAND SETTLEMENT PROGRESS. _ The repatriation of N.Z. soldiers had involved an expenditure of nearly £24,000,000 up to the end of October, includin" advances authorised and not yet made. The details of the expenditure are as follows: Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act.— Advances for stock and DUrohasen of houses and private land, £17,000,000. Lands for Settlement Act.—(a) Capital value of 208 estates, comprising 352,002 acres purchased, subdivided, and offered to soldiers, £4,370,000; (b) cost of 38 esrates, comprising 138,603 acres purchased and now being subdivided and prepared for settlement, £1,005,000. Total £5435,000. Repatriation Act.—Financial assistance for establishment of businesses, for the purchase of furniture, tools, etc., and for sustenance, etc., £1,540,000. Total (not including cost of advertising), £23,975,000. RECORD OP WORK DONE. The number of returned soldiers who have been placed by the Government on purchased estates. Crown land, or national endowment land, is 840!), the area of land involved being 2,035,705 acres The number of men who have been assisted to purchase or erect dwellings is 5513. The Repatriation Department" has placed 20.021 men in employment providing training for 8352 men, and has given financial assistance to 18,024 men The grand total of men who hive received repatriation aid in some form or another is 62,040. The average cost of placing returned soldiers on settlement land has beth £3003, ,the average capital value of the sections being £2400, and the average for stock and improvements £543. The-average advance for the purchase of private land has been £1633, and the average advance for the pur- , chase of dwellings has been £6OO. These \figures show that the Lands Department has been keeping well within the limits set by the law in making advances.

FARM AREAS NOW AVAILABLE. During November 80 sections, composing 18,59 ft acres, were offered to soldiers, and arrangements have been made to offer 96 sections this month The land now available for settlement by soldiers or being prepared for settlement -totals 025,095 acres. This includes 38 purchased estates, which will provide about 337 sections. The 30(1 estates purchased under the Land for Settlement Act for returned soldiers represent 491 - 265 acres, and have provided 2020 holdings.

The work of the Repatriation Department is proving particularly successful in all its branches. In making advances for the purchase of furniture and tools and for the establishment of men in business the department has often been unable to secure what would be regarded as sound security in ordinary business, but although the loans and grants have amounted to over £1,500,000, less than 5 per cent, of the 14,731 men who have been granted loans are in arrears with their payments. The repayments of pnnwpal and interest up to September 30 amounted to over £305,000. The department is finding no great difficulty in placing men in employment, and nothing in the nature of'an unemployment problem has arisen. The number of men waiting to be placed at the end of last month was only 128, and nearly all of them were recent registrations. The number of men drawing unemployment sustenance was only four. The men in training are reported to be making excellent progress. This branch of the department's work is showing a slight decrease month by month.

CARE OF DISABLED MEN. & A steady decrease is noted in the number of men requiring loans' to re-establish themselves in civil life. The reports of the after-care officers who keep in touch with discharged men likely to require assistance or advice show "that success is attending their efforts. Many disabled men have been placed in suitable occupations. The after-care officers have dealt with 811 chest eases, 337 men who have lost limbs, and 435 men suffering from other serious disabilities. In October they inspected and reported upon 280 partially-disabled men who are I receiving subsidised training in various! parts of the country.