PEOPLING THE LAND.

Auckland Star, Issue 38, 14 February 1929, Page 22

PEOPLING THE LAND.

POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. STATEMENT BY MINISTER. DI.YELi >riN> I DA IKY i'Al'.Ms. (By T. — r-re-s A "nr iar imi. > DIXTS EV I i:K !•:. W'e ire-day. ir 1 ».i nmi\• ik" to 'lay in to i if-piii.it i■ ■ ii. w hi- ii ur.'fd t lie Cii\i rail ci't : o taki' a.-t ion in pro'ttot in ir Mm-' •• of hand-. 11-n. W. Fori..'-, -aid: " I !'■• < \ 1 :■ -' ■.n -a\•i yi in port ani ore, ,i ■' !;• n s (*!•• town* a:i] cities are colli.l :le d. !or I ;'C w of oi;i* pi .-(.erity is bnii' i p '"i the -■ i> 'ee-s or the primary i :ii 11 (- • ie-. and if the;, are noi extended i n n.-e. • ee ait h the grow' li of th" inwi, we w ill jet a top-heavy -irueture. \ iii i:i i- what ha- hajipened lately. We ;..!\c o ' mp a .-'i per-st met itre that It a - " " pr. .pori :<> 11 to the iia -e. "We noi-i r-'cogni-o that it tiii- country i- gi e._. t,, make, progre-s we mu-t ha.\. ri ■■: • ■ -!■ •' I• incut on the land. There - n ■ o'i. r -I.lot ion tu our dirticiilty and teer.' i- n other soluti-.<i t" our uuemp.ouiient than that of increasing the ioiU! ; "'r of people on the land and in-<rea-n_: |:i »l net iotl. I am taking th" oppoi't unit v ot vi-iting difTerent partNch Zealand to di-eu-s with the pcopl • on the -pot their problems, because the problem- of one di-ttict are different Horn tho-e of another. Land in Auckland Province. "Hue h.i- oniy to travel to know that there i- a. con-idera ole amount of land that i- e.ip.ib'e of improvement and ot M't tlemen i. ('lie is struck by what can be. done in the Auckland district. There arc enormous tracts of land that need developing. With the inerea-eil knowledge of what can he done with fertiliserit is now a question of dealing with that undeveloped land. I have seen what can be done with topdre--ing. In the country there j, undoubtedly more room for population. 1 believe tha* one of tic great taints in New Zealand to-day if that people have too much land, not too little, and I. believe our troubles and \veaki'c--c, are due to that. "W'e have come to -ee that where we have areas of land that can be cut up 'into smaller farms of reasonable size better rc-ults are being obtained. I have been farming for .'id years and I admit that to-day L am beginning to leant something new about farming through the work of the Department of Agriculture. As a practical tanner I can see many farms that are not p-llimr their weight. lam certain that the country can carry from two to three times as many people on its farm lands if tLe> are properly used.

Out for Closer Settlement. "There is no doubt that in regard to closer set tire rant we have to tackle the problem and deal with it as expeditiously as we can," continued the Minister. "At present the Government is looking for good land, because we are out to" closer settlement. We are not going to buy big sheep lands and cut thenf up into smaller sheep farms. Dairying will <n ve the best results. What I at in regard to settlement is to increase the nil ruber nt' men on the land and ■with that to increase production. \ou can (To that by cutting up land that has been carrying sheep and putting dairy farms on it. if you were to estab' lish sheep farms on it you would not <*et tie same results. That is the class°of land we are out to settle, and any property you may know- of where the owner is W! Imrr to submit it to the Government should be put before the Land Purchase Board. I have told them that it is the desire or the Government to go on with settlement as expeditiously as we can." The Minister said the Government did 110 U<l apply harsh measures in getting land. If a man wanted to hancr llrea then the time had come lor the Government to tackle the matter. The towns were fuU of unemployment. H, btlieved that it was better i n such cases tor the Government to give under conditions of amicable bargain, a little W to'" rnar k e< j valu e of land than cCe t( :,f t^lr ,le Th? e Go m P ,,ISO^ would endeavour to do its best a"n"the lines ot friendly co-operation, but if the ne-essuv aroße it , « other means. 0 Uiv '-