LAND VALUES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10689, 13 February 1926, Page 3

LAND VALUES.

I INFLATION IN THE NORTH. WORSE THAN IN THE SOUTH.

(Per Press Association.) 1 AUCKLAND, February 12. Some thoughtful conclusions as the result of his close examination of farming conditions in New Zealand were ' given in an interview by the Hon W. i.-’ember Peeves. He spoke particularly of the size of holdings and' land values. Much development work had! been accomplised in the last thirty years, but Mr Reeves declares that there is much' to do. “ Any visitor from an older country would be struck by the areas of land in the Waikato that are yet unused,” he said. “ Some are still in fern and manuka, others are overgrown with blackberry, ragwort, or pennyroyal. Others, again, are swamps. 1 am well aware of the difficulties. People tell me, and I believe it, that some of the I swamps are most difficult to drain, that other neglected lands are native leaseholds, hut one principal reason, and I must give it, is that many individuals are holding too much land.” “Whenever I have seen a really dirty and neglected holding, I have nearly always found, after careful inquiry, that the settler has too much land for his capital, and cannot employ labour to work it. A great many men have failed to realise how intensive abusiness dairying is. However, the progress of the past thirty years has been wonderful, and I am convinced that the race of people that has got this country will not let it stand still. Science and Production, “In another 15' years productivity should be doubled if science is applied to the breeding of stock and improvement of the soil. If it has done so : much in recent years, what will it not . do in the future? Any who are alarm- . ed about falling prices should remem- • her that science has not said its last j

I word, and there may be a great surprise in store. “There is another thing. All the testimony given me is that the younger generation of farmers, thanks to education, are much more open-minded and receptive of new ideas than the old time 1 cocky,’ who, with all his virtues, was very tough and intractable indeed. Also, I have been assured everywhere that one good effect of the slump is that in most districts the •average farmer is taking his coat off. He spends little time at. races and in arguing about local politics in the village ‘ pub.’ ” On his tour of the Dominion, Mr lie eves set himself seriously to find out the after-effects of' the boom in land values, and particularly what proportion of farmers were gravely embarrassed. Although in some districts he found the proportion to be large, those districts were not so extensive as he had thought. “The inflation of values is a serious matter, and the country will take a long while to get over it,” he declared. “I want to emphasise chat it is a national trouble, and gives occasion for great regret, but it does not mean that the country is on the edge of bankruptcy or is facing disaster. Our rural country, on the whole, is sound. 1 have not arrived at this conclusion hastily, but after very careful consideration. Tlie situation is bad, but not so bad gs i expected. The fall in land values has been heavy and salutary, and iff some districts land is fetching not more than one-third of what it once did. Speaking generally, most of the land has reached values which are pretty fair considering prices. “Large districts, especially in the South island, have been and are almost free from land speculation. In such districts there have been few changes of ownership for many years. It is there that f have found the people looking most prosperous.” Subdivision the Remedy. Asked in what way lie believed the troubles of the northern dairy farmer would be overcome, Mr Reeves said the remedy was gradual further subdivision of the land. A typical dairying property, he considered, should be one which a man and his family could work to full advantage. “In Europe,” said Mr Reeves, “dairying is regarded as a peasant industry. Here it is thought to be one for the substantial farmer, almost a landholder, in fact. That, to my mind, is not the right ideal. I should he sorry to envisage a peasant population as rough and backward as those which inhabit many parts of the Continent, but I believe that there should grow up in New Zealand a class of enlightened small holders, working dairy farms in the most- efficient way by their own labour.” Mr Reeves finds that since the days of his own youth the young man on the land in New Zealand has improved markedly. This he attributes to education, health measures, the better rearing of children, the gradual effect of a splendid natural environment, a social system which assures the humblest a. decent standard of living and a square deal. “The effect of this last in an educated country is enormous, he said in conclusion. “One can see it in the faces of the people.”