SOLDIER SETTLEMENT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 1956, 22 May 1920, Page 4

SOLDIER SETTLEMENT.

STATEMENT BY MINISTER. 700,000 ACRES AVAILABLE. Press Association. WELLINGTON, May 21. A statement about land settlement in special relation to the settlement of sol diers was given bv the Minister of Lauds (lion D. 11. Guthrie) to-day. "What we are coming down to now in the way of land settlement," said the Hon. Mr Guthrie, "is the settlement of purchased lands which we have on hand, ami Crown lands which we have noi been able to bring under settlement, owing to the absence of surveyors aud engineers. We have a number of blocks that are ready for settlement, except for reading. We cannot give them to the soldiers until roading has been done, and we have not been able to get roading done because of shortage of officers which I have mentioned; and also the lack of Public Works men. We have at the present time available for settlement about 70(1,000 acres of this land, which will carry from 1200 to 1400 men. The land is of varying description, and l will lie suitable to all kinds of farming. It is distributed practically over the whole of both islands of New Zealand. A large area of the bush land is in the North of Auckland, aud it is of such character that it is well worth the attention of the Government and returned soldiers. These figures do not take into account any of the so-called pumice lands in the interior of the North Island, for which special provision was made in the legislation of last session. Nothing definite has been done about the settlement of this land. We are now raising reservations from a large number of blocks of land with the object of throwing them open for settlement under homestead tenure, which was revived in a more attractive form by legislation of last session. One great bar to the opening of this land is that a large quantity of it is national endowment land, and it will have to bo dealt with by Parliament before we can engage in any large scale on schemes for development of it." Mr Guthrie made reference also to the operation of clauses of the Acts of the last two sessions dealing with aggregation. "There has been," said the Minister, "an evident unloading of land from large properties, and there have been but few cases brought to the notice of the Government where there have been increases of areas. In these cases increases are, always arranged so as not to come within the scope of the aggregation clauses commonly. This is done

I>y purchases being made in the name of another member of the famih'. This device, however, will not in all circumstances prove to be a cdfcptetc escape from the operation of the law. I am convinced —indeed, I have evidence — that the cutting up of estates that has been going on recently can be attributable to. the effect of the aggregation clauses now on the Statute Book, but it is fair to say that some of the sales may also lie attributed to tiie high prices now ruling for land. I am glad to say that the experience of the Government has been happy in respect to these oilers of land for sale, for we have had land offered to us by large landowners for returned soldiers at prices which, in some instances, were £lO per acre less than private buyers subsequently paid for the land, but even at, the prices offered the Government has decided against placing soldiers upon land at such excessively high values."