LAND SETTLEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 241, 11 October 1929, Page 9

LAND SETTLEMENT.

"NOT UP TO EXPECTATIONS." GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSALS. OPINION OF LOCAL LEAGUE. WJiile the legislation enacted by the Government to advance land settlement in the Dominion does not come up to the expectations of the jNcw Zealand Land Settlement and Development League, the latter body is gratified that a start will be made with efforts to bring fresh land into productivity. "The position of the league is such that while we used every effort to get the legislation framed on the lines which we thought most suitable, we should now accept with thankfulness the advance made by the Government n> that they have laid down a definite principle —that of assisting men of small means up to a point when their holdings are reproductive," stated Mr. N. G. Gribble, secretary of the Auckland league at this afternoon's meeting of the executive. ''We should, as far as possible, endeavour to ensure that the country gets the most good out of the legal provision made. The simplest solution to unemployment appears to bo the development of our natural resources, and to encourage our semi-primary industries as a natural consequence. We should stress increased production front the soil, and. although we have confined our attention primarily to the encouragement of farming in various forms, wo should recognise that afforestation, flax growing, tobacco culture and any and every other form of utilisation should be encouraged where conditions are most suitable." It was decided to urge that, the fourth member of the ; Dominion Settlement Board should have ah intimate knowledge of the of•• those parts of the Dominion whei'fe lie the largest areas of undeveloped State land suitable for settlement under the system advocated by the league in the northern part of the North Island. The chairman (Mr. W. J7 Holds worth) said the Government was going to."get off the track" if it started buying improved farms. That would-not assist the unemployment situation, and it would mean that only people with money would be able to secure holdings. Only capital was wanted to bring large areas of Crown land into productivity.