NO LAND POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 162, 11 July 1928, Page 11

NO LAND POLICY.

REFORM'S HOPELESS PLIGHT. "STAND BY AMD DO NOTHING" HON. A. D. McLEOD UNDER FIRE. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. For its failure to produce a land policy after sixteen years in office, the Reform Government was taken severely to task in the House this afternoon by Mr. E. A. Ransom (Pahiatua). The Minister of Lands (Mr. McLeod) had made a speech in the House only the other night, and everyone had listened expectantly for a declaration of policy. Nothing had been forthcoming, said Mr. Ransom. However, in this, the last session of the present Parliament, there was still time for Jleform to produce a policy before it vent out of office.

Since no policy of land settlement had been forthcoming, it could only be assumed that the Prime Minister's invcstigations of the question of Crown lands settlement had not been satisfactory, and that the Government had not yet scon any light, continued Mr. Ransom. Was nothing to be done? Countries with which New Zealand was in competion on the world's markets were alive to the value, of intensive cultivation. If the intensive methods of Denmark were applied in New Zealand, it would not be long before this country exported £100,000,000 worth of produce.

Mr. Samuel (Ohinemuri): Wait till we are as old as Denmark!

Mr. Ransom said conditions were so much better here than in Denmark that we could very soon eclipse that country if our land settlement were carried out on a sound basis.

Mr. Jones (Ellesmere): We have beaten tliem at dairy produce now.

Tf we were to have intensive cultivation, on a small farm basis, we should not have to talk any longer about turning figurative corners, asserted Mr. Ransom. What of Reforms Mistakes? Mr. Hansom said he would compare Feforin's mistakes with those of the Liberal Government. The Minister of Lands had said it was useless to settle poor men on poor land. (Hear, hear.) Most practical men had discovered that truth years ago. But in face of his statement, the Minister must have thought that poor men could prosper on poor land, judging by the amount of poor land which lie acquired.

In the five years from 1921 to 1926, continued the speaker, a total of 19,860 people had left the land, 14,186 of whom were males. With the 125,550 persons who increased the Dominion's population over the same period, the~town population was brought up by 145,416. Yet the mover of the Address-in-Reply motion (Mr. Waite) had said that unemployment was dictated by world economic conditions. The land policy of the Government had a great deal *to answer for.

The real difficulty wa» that the Government was attempting to settle people on the wrong class of land. The Minister had said that one-man farms were the ideal, yet the land taken up for settlement was not pf that nature, since it was land requiring £5000 to £6000 to settle, and the farms were more like small stations. On the figures, land settlement was not even holding its own. The idea of the present Government seemed to be that the shortest way to closer land settlement was to stand by and do nothing. _ Mr. Hawken Explains. The Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. 0. J. Hawken) rose in the House and endeavoured to make out a good case for Reform's handling of land settlement. He claimed that splendid results had been obtained. The critic, said Mr. Hawken, had mixed up extended settlement with the separate question of intensive cultivation. Would anyone contcnd that high-class lands should be bought for closer settlement when they were over-valued? He believed some good land was now available at a more reasonable price, and it was possible to proceed with closer settlement. Large runs, so often qtioted by subdivision advocates, were mostly unsuitable for operating in small areas. Very little' unoccupied land could be brought in for less than £13 an acre. There was ample demand for land by those with no experience or money, but there was no better system for getting men into trouble. Ninety per cent of applications for land came from people without a penny. The Government was particularly concerned to develop the use of land. They gave fruitgrowers a guarantee on the export of apples, which had cost the Government £13,000 a year since its inception, and thus encouraged 6000 people to intensively cultivate small areas. When it became evident that tobacco-growing was possible in New Zealand, an expert instructor was provided and tariff advantage given to the New Zealand product. Wheat-growing was being assisted by research, and, as the Danes grew 39 bushels to the acre compared with the New Zealand average of 28 bushels, there was good scope. The real land policy of the Government was to encourage the more intensive use of land. Production from dairying had doubled in ten years, very little more land being utilised. An enormous sum had been spent to keep men on the land and provide roads. The Government had to make its choice between this and an extension of unimproved land settlement. It chose a system which increased production. Cost of Settlement. When the Government did tackle this problem of extended settlement these lands would cost £7 to £12 an acre to bring in, and much would need to be written off in a straight-out grant to those taking up present idle lands. He believed that the reduction in the bank rate and the surplus of credit in the country would result in greater industrial activity; therefore the time to carry out work was now, because he could see the time coming when labour would be scarce. Can't Live On Oratory.

"What has become of the Governnient's reiterated policy of settlement and still jnore settlement?" asked Mr. Sullivan (Avon). He declared that two Ministers had clearly shown that tiie Government had thrown over its j'olicy of further land settlement. The v hule economic life of the country was stimulated by the former Government's vigorous land subdivision policy, but today no fresh openings appeared for thousands of boys who were leaving school. They could not live on the oratory of the Minister of Lands.