LAND SETTLEMENT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10457, 25 July 1925, Page 6

LAND SETTLEMENT

DISCHARGED SOLDIERS' FARMS. CHECKING OF AGGREGATION. WELLINGTON, July 24.

There were 1009 holdings, comprising 'approximately a: total area of 182,789 acres, opened for selection in 1924-25. stated the Hon. W. Nosworthy in his Financial Statement. A total of 344,000 acres of Crown settlement, national-endowment lands, and reserves, subdivided, into 750 sections, were selected on freehold and leasehold tenures, and 530 miscellaneous leases were also issued, comprising an area of 117,000 acres. The balance of the Teviot sections were balloted for and disposed of, there being a keen demand for this class of open sheepcountry. At present an area of about 480,000 acres of Crowd, settlement, and national endowment lands is ipen for selection.

An area of 2,914 acres was set apart for selection by discharged soldiers, whilst proclamations were issued revoking the setting-apart of an area of 9,114 acres which had been proclaimed for soldier setlement. In connection with modern townplanning proposals, competitive schemes are being invited in connection with the planning of model suburbs at Orakei, Auckland, and the Hutt Valley, Wellington. Although there is no particular indication that land aggregation on a serious scale is taking place in the Dominion, the Government is desirous of protecting as far as possible small settlers' holdings from absorption into large estates. With this in view it is proposed to apply a check by means of the duty on conveyances, the present rate of which' £1 per cent. This rate would, under the new scheme operate on transfer of rural land to a holder who will not have with his new purchase an excess of a fixed capital value in land. Any acquisition above that value, however, is to be subject to an increasing percentage, rate to a maximum of 8 per cent. The proposed method should appeal to all who desire to see the settlement of the country maintained on a basis of opportunity for the small settler, and fuller details will be submitted to honourable members ait a. later date.

Under the discharged soldiers' settlement .scheme, the figures were:—Total advances in £1,591,483; total capital provided, £26,576,386. Revaluation of farms by Dominion Revaluation Board—Reductions in capital value of leaseholds, £1,608,800; reductions in mortgages, £672,000; total reductions, £2,280,800. From the inception of the scheme in 1915 to the end of the last, financial year advances have been made to 22,326 returned soldiers, the total amount being £22,208,300. During the period the mortgages have run, receipts from the sale of stock, wool, and other farm produce, and repayment of loans under the instalment .system, amount to £3,889,800, the receipts being 17.5 per cent, of the -total capital advanced. The receipts for the year £1,591,483, constitute ai record. Of this sum £921,365 represents repayments in respect of principal, part of which is available for roadvances on current account, while receipts in respect of interest and sundries total £670,118. Loans amounting to £344,800 were authorised during 1924-25, mainly for further assisting in the replacement of culled stock, the purchase of further .stock, .and for additional improvements. The total advances paid out during the year amounted to £717,340. The Department handles the bulk of the proceeds from farms, and these are invested in the replacement of stock, the purchase of additional stock, and in effecting improvements to farms. These roadvances must- continue until prooerties are more fully .developed. ~ The total amount involved in the settlement of discharged soldiers is approximately £28,576,386. The Dominion Revaluation Board has practically completed the revaluation of soldier farms/ The total number of f-rmlications for revaluation was 5,d4/, aSS Dominion Board has dealt with 99 per cent, of this number, the remainder representing the number of settlers who have dropped out since lodfine applications. , The reductions authored are as follows :-In capital value of lihoids £1,608 800vm mortgages £672,000 j total, '£2,280,800.