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The Committee should have power to co-opt additional associate members without voting-power. To qualify for assistance from the Marginal Lands Account a farmer should apply to the Commissioner of Crown Lands or to the Marginal Lands Board for assistance. The Field Inspector of the Lands Department, in company with the Instructor in Agriculture and at least one of the farming members of the Committee, should then inspect the property, discuss the position with the applicant, and, in consultation with him, draw up a proposed programme or plan for establishment of the farm on a proper economic footing. This would then be considered by the Committee and sent to the Marginal Lands Board with a recommendation, including, if necessary, particulars of any negotiation with mortgagees who hold interests in the farm. We think that this method of administration would be simple and practicable. To execute the policy of the Board and to study the whole problem of marginal lands it will be necessary to set up in the Lands Department a special Division for such purpose. It will be most necessary in staffing such a Division to ensure that the personnel are fully acquainted with the whole problem of marginal lands, and also that they have a sympathetic understanding of the psychology of the farmer on such lands, in order to approach the problem in a realistic manner which will earn co-operation from the farmers concerned. It will probably be desirable that specialized marginal lands officers should be attached to the staff of the Commissioner of Crown Lands in each district. Part YI of the Land Act, 1948, has made provision for the Land Settlement Board to make advances to farmers on Crown land for various purposes. We gave serious consideration to the possibility of all advances for marginal land being made under this Part of the Act, or by its extension to include freehold lands as well as Crown lands. All ordinary straightforward advances for land improvements on Crown land should be made by the Land Settlement Board under Part YI of the Land Act, 1948, and only those of a character which are uneconomic in the first instance and therefore deserving of more generous terms should be referred for consideration by the Marginal Lands Board. There may be some danger of overlapping between the two Boards, but both will be administered in the one Department, the Lands Department. It will be possible for that Department to administer advances on Crown lands as it thinks best —that is, under Part VI of the Land Act or from the Marginal Lands Account. 111. ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS Having examined the industrial organization, we now turn attention to administrative organization. We have said before that there are four principal administrative channels. We consider that there should be only three administrative organizations concerned with the sheep industry. Those administrative organizations should be—(a) The Department of Lands and Survey, which will have responsibility •for all matters concerning land, its occupation, the financial position of the land-owner and his ability to occupy and farm the property, and for the conservation of land, its development and settlement:

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