MAYOR'S LAND SCHEME.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 155, 30 June 1916, Page 7

MAYOR'S LAND SCHEME.

PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATION'S APPROVAL. GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS INADEQUATE. The proposals made by the president ot the Auckland Patriotic Association ' (Mr J. H. Gunson) for dealing with the ' land for soldiers question by instituting Estate training farms were discussed by ' the executive of the Association. Mr V. ,f. Lamer expressed the opinion that the Government scheme was im- ' perfect and was doomed to failure, be- ' cause it allowed men indiseriminatclv to fro on the land. He heartily approved : the. proposals made by the Mayor, but the : question would be what the "men would I get in the shape of wages while they ' were employed on the training farm. " i ihe Mayor replied that he recognised I that, for which reason he had pointed to i the experience of Australia. i Replying to Mr A. S. Bank-art, who wanted to know whether the dairying farm proposed by the Mayor for " the i Irewera would he in bush' country, Mr i Gunson said that his idea was that portion of it would be cleared land and the remainder bush, so that the men would obtain practical experience in clearing, and, at the same time, would be improving the value of the Government land. He recognised that there would be considerable capital expenditure for a , number of years, but there would be considerable returns, and the Govern- , ment in the long run would re-imburse itself. In a year or eighteen months tha returns would be forthcoming. Mr G. Elliot thought that the scheme presented an excellent method of clearing and subdividing bush land. In the course of further discussion, the Mayor pointed out that the difference between his proposals and schemes of village settlement which had been tried hitherto was that while the men were on the farm they would be merely students obtaining wages. They would thus be able to discover whether they were fitted for farming before they actually acquired land. Mr Bankart observed that while he was in sympathy with the Mayor's proposals, it would still be useless, even when the men were trained and obtained land, for them to attempt to farm without capital; but Mr Elliot pointed out that already the Government was making financial provision, and expressed the opinion that the Government would not lose. Mr Bankart: It would be a fine thing for the Government. Mr E. A. Craig pointed out that tho scheme propounded by Mr Gunson had j the advantage that it'trained and tested the men and then gave them a grant of ' land. Under the Government proposal j men obtained the land and found out \ by experience whether they would be successes or failures. Mr Lamer observed that the schemo appeared to be sound enough if the finances were forthcoming, and inquired what would be the probable cost. The Mayor replied that a million might be required, but if the schemo helped to solve the problem of the discharged soldier, what was the cost as compared with that of conducting tho war? Ultimately, the chairman, with Messrs Lamer and Bankart. were, constituted, a committee to proceed further with the matter, obtain the views of practical men, and present the scheme to the. Government if the scheme were fouud to be practicable.