THE LAND BLUFF.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 209, 3 September 1919, Page 10

THE LAND BLUFF.

STRIKING REVELATIONS IN _ _~ AUCKLAND.

PAPER SCHEMES AND NO LAND STATE CASH FOR PRIVATE DEALS. BUT SO CROWN BLOCKS. i The attention called by the Industries Committee of the House of Representatives to the desirability of encouraging immigration, as well as of increasing the products of land by the expansion of scientific methods, coupled with the recent cable announcement that the Overseas- Settlement Department of the Imperial Government is directing emigration, into Empire channels, is of much interest to New Zealand discharged soldiers, who complain that they are nnable to get upon the land themselves.

Arising out of frequent statements that returned men have dissipated substantial portions of their war nest-eggs in a fruitless search for land that is not available, the Auckland "Star" made investigations to ascertain:

(1) Whether any land -whatsoever other than that purchased privately with the aid of the financial assistance provisions of the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act, is now available for men who desire to go on land;

(2f: 'What land, Crown or acquired improved land, is likely to be available -within the next year for our own returned men; {3>- Vv_at lands are available, or could fie prepared for the reception of immigrant Imperial soldiers. A' STARTLING P.EPLY. •TSe- reply from one official was startling in. its frankness; ■'There is not an acre of virgin land . for ■settlement in the North, and the '•, traantity in the south of the province P is negligible."

Tie facts of the case, as far as the Auckland "Star" could ascertain them, are that tens of thousands of pounds are being expended by the two Auckland Land Boards in the direction of granting assistance to returned soldiers, but, except in the case of a few subdivisions of improved land acquired for soldier settlement, the entire activities of the Boards under the so-called soldier-settle- I ment schemes are not placing a singie ' extra man on the land or increasing the production of the country by means of | the supplies of soldier labour. and capital that are now offering. i Should a soldier back from tlie war, I having in nis possession two or three fnmd"red pounds of capital, desire to go upon the land under conditions that will guarantee him the full benefit of nis labour, without paying for goodwill, the positjon to-day is that there is scarcely a single section available in the vast area covered by the two Auckland Laud Boards save the rejects of civilian land" settlers that figure in the "Crown Eanti." Guide,"' and the poorer patches of settlement land that have been declined when thrown open for selection. THE UNSATISFIED HUNGER.

And all the time there is an acute, increasing, unsatisfied land hunger. Each land ballot attracts an increasing number of applicants, and the most recent ballot on a large scale conducted in the Auckland district, that for the Hikutaia settlement and Ngahinapouri settlements, attracted applicants up to the number of over fifty per section. Figures in other distrieta have revealed an even ' more startling demand for land on the part of the Mjturned men, -who cannot realise their ambitions unless they consent to buy privately on current inflated values.

Take the case of the North Auckland land Board, a body that has been feverishly busy ever since its inception seven or,eight months ago endeavouring to place men upon purchased farms or to assist them to obtain 'house property. Its •sympathetic treatment of the soldiers has never ; been doubted, but it is questionable "whether during the last six months it has thrown open to selection a single block of new country, or, for the matter of that, subdivided improved country. Months «igo the following blocks, totalling seventy or eighty thousand acres, were announced as having been ear-marked for soldier settlement: — - ACQEIRED IMPROVED LAND"". Acres. Crawford's Estate — 4.IKH) Remuera 'Estate 4,000 •Saunders" Estate 13,021 EHis' Estate 17,001 CCM RESERVES AND CORN LANDS. Acres. Takahue-Whangape Block (Maunganui) CSSO East Maunganul Block T.HOt) Pareakawa Block (HokSanga) :t.(>S"> l-nnakitere (Hokianga) S,-J7~> ■Motukaraka Block (Hokiaug.i) 77"> Mansapnrerna iBSy of Islands) G.tKiS ■Kapiro -Block 12,7*12 Iverlkeri Block fl.ooo 1-ar.ihirahi Block "UXlo Hnruhanui (Kuapekapeka) '£,'£& To the above list another big area of virgin country near Peria has been added, •but the whole of these lands are apparently only available on paper. WHAT'S DOIXG IX THE XOSTH ? On the ground that any information vouchsafed might be used for political purposes, and further because the matter ■was one for explanation by the Minister, not by the official, the Commissioner of the North Auckland Land Board declined to give replies to the following specific points of information put to him by the ••Star":—

(1) Has a single block of Crown land, or any other land, acquired for soldier settlers, been opened up by your Board during the past six months?

(2) Is the Board in a position lo otTer at once any Crown section of vir"iii or improved acquired land, except a private farm, to any soldier desiring io go on the land?

(3) What provision does your Board anticipate being able to make for the settlement of New Zealand soldiers on Crown and bush lands within the next twelve months?

Possibly had the answers been forthcoming they would have thrown an interesting light upon our so-called land settlement policy. AND IN THE SOUTH? Tho officials of the South Auckland Land Board went to considerable trouble to extract the following table of lands that will be opened for the settlement of our returned men this year and next, but this shows that little or no land is immediately available to supply the vast demand of the demobilised soldier:—

SBTTIJEJME.XT 'LAND. ... Acres. "Vewsbam and ""»oomfieia's property, known as the Orongo Estate, at the mouth of the Waihou River. (One (month's time) 2,100 Otamarnkau ■property, Bay of -Plenty (October) ..". 600 ■Reparoa Estate, between 'Rotorua and Taupo (possibly next year).. 30,000 "- «•, Parke, property, between ta-mbniljtii and Te Awomirtu ("November) ;....„_. SHOO Total 3G.200 TJXIMPROTED IjANiD. Br,sh country, under survey, Onga-"-iihe, near -the Taranakl boundary (possibly next year) ."!5,300 Ln'mproved land, •Maungaronga, Mtlg Country (next year) 34,400 a J? y bush and partly open country, Tauranga. inferior to virgin bush country (next year) 7,000 •BRAINED SWAMP. Hnuraki Plains (October) 3,400 Bush country, known as Manga•wa'he. between Lake Rotoina and Matara on the Bast Coast 'beginning of next year) 11,009 Bus* country ot the back of Kopakl rai way station, in Pakiuimanu survey district (beginning of next _"•?■""> 0.000 Tjr.der survey at .the Hauraki Plains :i,OOO To * al 103,100 Tt will he seen from the foregoim; figures that the land to lie available this year consists of D6OO acres:, all told, improved land, bush land and swamp. The rest the promised land is for next year. At one hundred acres per section only ninety-six soldiers could be settled in the South Auckland district this year.

What are the hopes of the immigrant*, especially seeing, as Mr. H. M. Skeet, the Crown Lands Commissioner pointed out to the "Star,'' that under the existing legislation no provision whatever is made for the men from the Homeland? What are the hopes of the men who, under the impression that the country wants men to go on the land, go a land-seeking at their own expense? Mr. Skeet states that the Board has power, subject to the consent of the Minister, to allot section's right away without waiting for the opening up of the entire block. What would ■happen in such an event already has been demonstrated by the attitude of the Returned Soldiers' Association.

The North Auckland Land Board announces to-day the opening of the improvement settlement block of HI sections at Remuera. Varticuiavs are printed on another page.

[The above appeared in part of our edition yesterday.]