PEACE-TIME PROBLEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 69, 21 March 1919, Page 5

PEACE-TIME PROBLEMS.

AIDING RETURNED SOLDIERS. CANADA'S LAND PROVISIONS. (Own Correspondent.) VANCOUVER, February 20. Many returned Canadians see their principal salvation toward financial independence in the primary national undertaking of farming on a wide scale, and the soldier is busy debating on location for his tilling of the soil by the latest agricultural appliances. The vast majority of tho Canadian soldiers have been extremely patient, and have been buoyed up with promises of the Ottawa Government, which has now isuod some details of what they propose to do to help the soldier. Under the Soldiers' Settlement Act, repatriation o c returned men is aided by making it easy for them to adopt farming as a permanent vocation. The Soldiers' Settlement Board administers the Act. Land grants for returned men are given ot as rewards, but as privileges to those who wish to farm as a life work. It is essential that the 6oldiers settle on the land, and produce crops, in order to secure the benefits of the Act. The Act offers a loan up to £500 to the returned men to get land, discharge encumbrances, undertake improvements, erect buildings and buy the necessary ■stock, machinery and equipment. The loan is at, five per cent, repayable in twenty equal annual instalments; the first two being deferable. Advances are ! made, not in cash, but in the form of I payment for material and equipment. This loan provision applies to all lands 1 everywhere in Canada. The use of private and provincial lands on any large | scale awaits the co-operation of provincial governments. The returned men | are given a decided priority in the matter of Dominion lands. A soldier on active service holding Dominion land as homestead pre-emption or \ purchased homestead is protected in his l entry. A returned soldier holding such I entry is eligible for the £500 loan on the

same terms as if the lands were privately owned. He is also eligible to secure a free entry for another quarter of a section (160 acres). All Dominion lands in i the Western provinces within fifteen I miles from transportation have been rej served for returned men. The Soldiers' Settlement Board arranges for short 1 courses in practical farming to soldier settlors who have not had experience. j The Dominion experimental farms, provincial departments of agriculture, agricultural colleges, and the Khaki University are being used in this connection. The Board supervises tbe administration |of loans. It makes use of the survey branch and the Dominion lands branch of of the Department of the Interior to survey land, determine what lands are open for entry, and render other services for the returned men. It also secures the proper equipment for the returned man on his farming venture. I Its experts will help to draw plans for : his buildings, and advise him as to pur- ! chases. The Board has a supervisor in ! the field for each province. These nine supervisors have a competent staff to I value tho land, to advise the returned I man in his training and in his farming. j Two honorary boards advise the superI visors, one in regard to financial assistI anco and the other in regard to tho capacity of the applicant for a loan under the I Board. Up to date, loans have been 1 npprox-ed to 07.) returned men. aggregat- '■ ing .€240,000. 102 loans' applications are under consideration at present. Since , the Board was instituted. 675 soldier eni tries have been granted on Dominion ; Crown lands. SOLDIERS CO-OPERATE. VKTERANS FORM LABOUR UNIONS. (Own Correspondent.) VANCOUVER, February 15. An exceedingly interesting innovation in Canada simultaneous with the return homo of the vast contingents of soldiers is the institution of what are designated " Khaki Labour Unions," which arc wholly composed of returned

soldiers, who havp entered into co-opera-

tive business combinations to engage in public works of various classes, principally in the erection of buildings and the construction of roads. These unions have sprung up in many parts of Canada, and the soldiers are showing an enterprise surpassing that of many old-estab-lished firms. The soldiers are content j with a fair wages schedule, and as vet there has been no dispute to mar their commencement in busines*). Attempts have already been made by designing ' political schemers to enlist the support ■of the members of the Khaki unions, but the soldiers have quickly sent the j political tricksters "where they belong," consigning them to the nether regions! The soldiers have announced that they ; will not affiliate with any political party jns they simply wish a " square deal" in | all matters.