The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo and The Sun. TUESDAY,. JANUARY 20, 1931. THE GALATEA PURCHASE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 16, 20 January 1931, Page 6

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

TUESDAY,. JANUARY 20, 1931. THE GALATEA PURCHASE.

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

The announcement made by the actingPrime Minister in regard to the purchase of the Galatea estate contains the best possible justification for this latest development of Liberal land policy. The land is centrally situated, and can be made accessible from ports and markets in several different directions. It is well watered and admirably adapted for dairying, and when the preliminary work contemplated by the Government is . completed it can be divided into at least 120 holdings. It will carry a large number of cattle, and it will produce for the farmers and the Dominion a very substantial income. According to Mr. Ransom's statement the Department is satisfied, that it knows of no other area "that offers the same scope for concentrated and successful settlement" as the block now purchased. Add to this the fact that the average price for the whole area of 22,000 acres is reported to be about £4 10/ per acre, and we have as strong a case as could be required for the acquisition of this fine block of land by the State.

But even good land may be relatively useless unless it can be brought into direct and rapid communication with ports and centres of population. It will be necessary, therefore, to open up the Galatea block by roading on a large scale, and for this important work the Government has already made provision. An article describing the block and its surroundings which appears in another column of this issue shows that the roads required to make the Galatea district readily accessible from the coast will open up the whole hinterland of the Bay of Plenty between Whakatane and Rotorua. The settlers in the Rangitaiki Valley and the adjacent country have long been complaining of their isolation, and the systematic settlement of the Galatea block, when it is an accomplished fact, will solve the problem of internal communication in this part of the North Island effectually and permanently.

But the construction of the necessary roads and the preparation of this area for settlement will absorb a large amount of labour for a very considerable time. This is a feature of the case which renders the purchase of the Galatea block particularly opportune just now. A number of the men who have been discharged through the abandonment of the Gisborne-Waikokopu line are to be transferred to the Rangitaiki district, and developmental works here will be initiated on a large scale just at the time when employment is most urgently required and the resources of the State are being strained to the utmost to provide it. In view of all the advantages that this purchase presents, and especially as it is an essential feature of the .Government's policy to solve the unemployment problem ultimately by putting settlers on the land, the acquisition of the Galatea block should secure general satisfaction and approval.