BACK TO THE LAND

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 181, 2 August 1929, Page 9

BACK TO THE LAND

"AT NOMINAL COST." LOANS FOR DEVELOPMENT. GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS. £5,000,000 TO BE BORROWED. (By Telegraph.— Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. "The only real cure for our present difficulties lies in the old slogan 'Back to the Land'/' the Finance Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, said when explaining the Government's land policy in his Budget speech last night. "The Government placed land settlement in the forefront of their election programme, and the people endorsed it. The Government accordingly will vigorously foster land settlement in any and every way that is feasible. It is a matter that will take time, but I can assure honourable members that the Government will spare no effort to obtain the desired end. "The State holds some millions of acres of waste land, but a great deal of it, for various reasons, is not suitable for immediate settlement. Some of it 16 inaccessible, and roads will to be constructed before it can be utilised; while in, other areas the nature of the land is such that considerable developmental work will have to be done before a settler can go on it and make a living for himself and his family. The Government proposes to take steps to bring some of these waste lands into cultivation. "Capital, of course, is required, and in addition to existing authorities I propose to ask the House to authorise the borrowing of up to £5,000,000 for land settlement. Preliminary Development. "Legislation will be submitted to the House to .enable the funds of the Lands Department to be used for the preliminary development of selected areas, which will be cut up and offered for • selection as soon as the land, with the assistance and co-operation of the experts of the Agriculture Department, has been brought into such a state that settlers can go on to it and get an immediate return from their farming operations. This means that, as an alternative to buying developed lands for settlement, the funds will be used to develop the waste lands that are' already in the possession of the State. The cost of such development work will, of course, be capitalised. "In addition, it is proposed to provide for special assistance to those energetic and capable men with the pioneer spirit who are willing to take up sections of waste land and do the developmental work themselves. This will be done by setting up a special land development branch of the State Advances Office, the funds of which will be used for advances on special liberal conditions to selected men taking up the class of land to which I have referred. The idea is that in lieu of buying land that is fully developed and. loading the settler with the capital cost, .the man will be allowed to have the hj,nd at a nominal cost and bei given the opportunity of "making the capital improvements himself, the necessaty capital being advanced to him on suitable liberal terms by the State. I

"I may add," said the Minister, "that using the State Advances Office for this purpose is really a return to the original purpose for which the office was established by me in IS94 —and a great success it was, too—in conjunction with the land settlement policy inaugurated at that time. Of late years the State Advances Office has developed overmuch along the lines of a straight-out investment corporation, and the real purpose of assisting • new land • settlement has been allowed to fall very much into the background." Compulsory Purchases. The. Government also intended to pro : ceed resolutely with the cutting-up of lafge estates, suitable for closer .settlement. .If forced, to do so, it would acquire such lands by compulsion. The procedure governing compulsory acquisition would be simplified. "The Government is not out to exploit anybody," Sir Joseph added, "and it will pay'-a fair price, but' it is not going to put settlers on to land carrying such a heavy loading of capital charges that they will have no hope of making a success of it. Settlers taking up lands that are purchased arid cut up will, of course, be able to obtain all the necessary capital for development purposes from the settlers' branch of the State Advances Office and the Rural Intermediate Credit Board without any delay. "To get more men on to the land is a matter that takes time, but the policy I have outlined will be steadfastly pursued, and the full effects will be seen in a few years' time, when the increase in production and in the general prosperity of the whole Dominion will have caused unemployment and other present difficulties to. disappear."