THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1909. LAND HUNGER IN AMERICA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9579, 27 August 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1909. LAND HUNGER IN AMERICA.

The extraordinary rush of 300,000 applicants for the land comprised in the Indian ressrvafcions, which have just been thrown open in the United Sates as cabled the othe~ day is an indication of the \acutenes< with which the agricultural population there is pressing upon the land i available. The present policy of the United States Governmant 13 designed to do away with reservation? by incorpjiating the Indians in th? body politic n3 citizens. These reservations are' naturally coveted by settlers, for. although the Indians have practised agriculture to a limited extent, yet, in comparison with other extensively cropped arable lands the reservations are practically virgin soil. The exodus to Canada from the United States is due to the increasing difficulty of obtaining suitable land, at a reasonable price, and in liberal ateas. Land hunger has bean spoken ot as existing in this Dominion, because whenever a ballot for Crown lands is advertised, the applicants consid rably outnumber the lots available; but anything in this way so far recorded here dwindles into the merest insignificance compared with the wave of applicants in America now struggling lor the Indian reservations. Again, the suggestion must oao.ur to many minds whether it would not be well worth the while of the New Zealand Government to make a determined bid for some of these American farmers. No doubt the great majority would be disinclined to leave their own great Republic for such far-away fields as wp have to offer; but, on the other hand, the distinctions of the Dominion, were it in the matter of climate alone, might well attract a desirable percentage, The facts to hand from America show that ther-a exists there an enormous number of farmers anxious for new opportunities, arid this is cert; I .ir.lv a fact which this directors of our immigration policy should not overlook.