BACK TO THE LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 230, 29 September 1931, Page 6

BACK TO THE LAND.

Your correspondent "Settler 45 Years" wonders if I know anything about the.hack to the land call, and asks whether I and mine were placed on the land by the great Liberal land reformers. Without egotism, I think I can claim a sound practical knowledge of farming in most of its branches. My father and mother belonged to the early pioneers, who had education, grit and determination

and revelled in plain living, honest dealing and hard work. As mere children we had to do real men's work. We had to grow our own wheat and grind it before we got our bread, and some 'bread it was. I had my chare of bush-falling, fencing, milking for the cheese factory, pig raising and bacon curing. In the 'nineties, the Liberals kept land cheap by the proper use of the graduated land tax. They gave good tenures for rich or poor, gave cheap money and financial assistance, and fitted their public works policy to give seasonal work for the pioneers. Altogether they made land cheap, gave free access, and the maximum of assistance that the finances of the country could stand. What was the result? Every ballot for land was inundated with appli' cants. There was a great rush back to the land. The flood to Australia of 3000 settlers a year from 18S0 to IS9O ceased. The sum of £275,000 was spent in 1890 on emigration. This foolish method ceased, and the original settlers returned and paid their own passage. The fact is we have not had practical Ministers of Lands with the necessary scientific, economic knowledge and driving force since 1912. They allowed the Ministers of Finance to encourage stupendous inflation of unimproved land values by the Valuation Department to create a fictitious national balancesheet in order to carry out their 'borrow and bust policy. In the 1922 election I warned electors that by 1920 there would be an army of unemployed rolling up. I warned my audiences that they who thought they were safe and secure would find themselves without a roof over their heads: and to the irresponsible youth I said: "You will be driven back on the land or starve." Who is there that will now denv the accuracy of these predictions? A. HALL SKELTO2v.