The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1929. LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 37, 13 February 1929, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1929. LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

■ » ■ For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that voe can do.

The Government's purchase of a valuable property in the Feilding district for closer settlement marks the revival of the traditional land policy so long associated in this country with the name and the history of Liberalism. The Minister of Lands describes the property in terms that leave no doubt about its productive capacity and its titness for the purpose for which it is intended. And though, in accordance with the established practice of the Department, the exact price paid has not yet been disclosed, the fact that the Land Purchase Board recommended the acquisition of this property may be fairly taken as a guarantee that the terms as well as the quality and situation of the land are, from the standpoint of the State, quite satisfactory.

The Minister of Lands has explained that it is proposed to divide this area of 844 acres into 10 or 12 small dairy farms. This" will mean holdings of from 70 to 80 acres each, The advantage to the settler or farmer of obtaining a small holding of highly improved land in such a locality can hardly be overestimated. The land is all in grass, it is fenced and subdivided, it is served by several dairy factories, and the fortunate occupiers will be able at once to enter upon their work with good prospects of an immediate and substantial return. More particularly as the facilities for affording financial help to farmers have recently been reorganised on Liberal lines, the future of the new settlement may be regarded as assured.

Not the least attractive feature of this experiment is the small size of the holdings. More especially in the North Island in recent years, there have been too many instances oi' land taken up in areas tar too large fur successful or profitable handling by the farmer. In working a small block of hind the settler is able to devote all his energies to the improvement and exploitation of practically every square yard of his holding, and thus he enjoys to a large extent the benefits of frhat "intensive" production which, on the agricultural side, has drawn untold wealth from the soil for the people of France and Belgium. Sir Joseph Ward and the Liberal (Jovernment may well be congratulated on their prompt revival of the Land for Settlement policy which, when it means the breaking-up of large estates into highly improved small holdings, cannot fail to prove a great national success.