PRACTICAL AID.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 183, 4 August 1932, Page 10

PRACTICAL AID.

LAND SETTLEMENT SCHEMES SAVINGS BANK'S DONATIONS. ABSORPTION OF UNEMPLOYED. Subject to tho necessary legislative sanction, the trustees of the Auckland Savings Bank propose to assist to the extent of £32,000 t\vo schemes for the settlement of unemployed men and boys on the land. At their monthly meeting yesterday the trustees decided to donate, subject to certain conditions, £10,000 towards a scheme at present being promoted by Mr. D. V. Bryant, of Hamilton, and other practical farmers, for the settlement of unemployed men on the land. Among tho conditions is olio that before tho bank donates anything, Mr. Bryant's organisation shall bo properly constituted and shall have raised from the public at least £10,000 by way of gift.

The trustees consider that the question of providing suitable employment for unemployed boys is of vital Importance and they proposo to make available £2000 towards the acquisition of a suitable block of land and to expend thereon during, say, five years, a sum not exceeding £20,000 for the development of this land and tho training and settling on it of a number of boys of a suitable type. Arrangements have been made for this schema to be supervised by a competent organisation which will act in conjunction with a management committee appointed by the bank. A decision.was reached also to donate £200 to tho Mayor's unemployment relief fund, subject, as in tho foregoing cases, to statutory authority being obtained. Mr. Bryant's Proposal. Although tho full details of the bank's own scheme have not been completed, no time will be lost in bringing the plan to maturity. Prior to hi* recent departure for Australia on a health trip, Mr. Bryant conferred with the trustees, and, according to a memorandum explaining his scheme, tho proposal is to acquire blocks of land, preferably partly developed, and to subdivide the areas into 50-acre lots. Cottages will bo built and the necessary stock and farm requisites supplied. When Improvements are fairly complete, the individual farms will be handed over to approved men selected from those who had been responsible for the improvements. It is proposed to form a body known as the Waikato Land Settlement Society, the board of directors of which will purchase a property, establish a camp, make a survey on a basis of 50 acres, approximately, proceed to the erection of cottages and, at a later stage, purchase stock and other farm requisites. When the cottages aro erected they will be occupied by married men and their families. The central camp will then be available for housing the balance of the men who have been assisting with the work. The men will be selected because of their willingness to learn and their general aptitude. In that way it is hoped to train now men in the farming industry. The overseers will be specially selected on account of their ability in teaching. Living From Allotments. The occupiers of tho cottages, which will be rent free, will be encouraged to do everything possible to produce their living from their allotments. The order in which cottages are to be taken will bo decided by ballot where applicants are, in the opinion of the directors, equally deserving. The original allocation of allotments, however, will not necessarily nor ordinarily be final. Where there are two or more equally deserving applicants for a particular holding the final allocation will be made by ballot. At first all work will be carried out on a community basis. The men will be working for tho society full time, although their pay is merely sustenance paid by the Government at relief work rates and although the worker may not got a section on the block on which ho begins to work. Cooperative work will, in general, be carried on over the whole block so that it may be brought to a fully-improved state, as soon as possible.

Relief Wages. The Government has promised that the men employed under the plan will receive pay as though on relief work. The men will be expected to work full time in consideration of present and future benefits. When sections are sufficientlv improved co-operative work will cease *on such sections and they will be allocated. At that etago the allotments will bo valued by the directors on the basis of productive value (irrespective of cost) and will be handed over to the men selected under an agreement of sale and purchase. Interest will be charged at the rate of 5 per cent on the value assessed and a sinking fund will be added. \