THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1909. THE WAIRARAPA AND CLOSE SETTLEMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9538, 9 July 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1909. THE WAIRARAPA AND CLOSE SETTLEMENT.

On Wednesday afternoon last, when introducing a deputation to the Minister for Lands, Mr W. C, Buchanan, i M.P., made a strong appeal that the Government should not overlook the ' Wairarapa in the matter of clore . settlement. Mr Buchanan neatly em- , phasised the great productive , capacity of the district when he drew attention to the fact that three stations —Masterton, Carterton and Featherstop—put through more sheep and wool than any other seven in the whole Dominion ! Here surely is a fact that should make some of the more sleepy in the community rub their eyes. The Wairarapa district is not only, as a whole, very fertile, but its productive capacity can be enormously increased, aid nothing approaching the extent of the increase that is possible will ever come about until settlement is a great deal closer than it is to-day. It must be admitted by anyone who gives even tha slightest consideration to the question, that the Wairarapa district is sparsely populated when its extent, its productive capacity and its nearness to the Empire Gity are considered. - No doubt, in (he course of time, a great in crease in the population on the land will come about, but in the interests of the great bulk of the present population in the Wairarapa the time of that change should be hastened as much as possible. The Masterton electorate has bean notoriously neglected by the Government so far as close settlement is concerned, and that without the faintest i excuse. Mr Buchanan on the occasion of the deputation referred to, said the Opposition had never quarrelled I vv th the Government for purchasing land for settlement, and he men- ' tinned that the Government had refused to buy a block of 10,000 acres near Masterton at £7 10s per acre, which block has since been sold at £l2 10s per acre. The compulsory claims of the Land for Settlornent Act are a piece of machinery that should only be used wi th the greates care, and when the most justifiable of causes for doing so present themselves. It is true that the Government have been adversely criticised on occasions for resuming estates in instances where they have used compulsion with the, practically, inevitable result that an unduly high" price was paid for the land. The compulsory clauses of the Act should only be resorted to as a last rerort, and when "cruel necessity" compels, but the public [generally has a right to expect that the Government shall not entirely fail to promote close settlement by reasonable and amicable methods when opportunities of acquiring suitable areas present themselves. According !o the Minister for Lands the

Government; have expended £6,000,000 on the acquisition of land for settlement, and this fact probably proclaims more pointedly than any other possibly could how glaringly the Masterton electorate has been neglected. The deputation, which Mr Buchanan introduced, were desirous that the Minister should sanction the purchase of the Hautotara estate, consisting of 17,000 acres at £7 per acre, and this block, Mr Buchanan says, is a good sample cf the productive naturn of ths Wairarapa district. Its subdivision would, r.o doubt, be of advantage to the town of Martinborough, ard the surrounding country generally. The citizens of Masterton parhaps, "take a leaf out of the book" of Maryborough's progressive residents, and form a deputation to wait upon the Minister for Lands with a similar object. Furthermore, seeing that Mr Buchanan is in favour of close settlement, and, also, that the Minister has his assurance that the Opposition have never quarrelled with the Government fur purchasing land for settlement, the Masterton Chamber of Commerce might well cease to regard the question as "political," and advocate for what is more in the interests of the town than anything else it can possibly think of.