SMALL FARMS BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 290, 8 December 1932, Page 8

SMALL FARMS BILL.

EXPECTED TO-NIGHT. LAND FOR UNEMPLOYED. SATISFACTORY RESULTS. (By Telegraph.—.Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. It js anticipated that the Small Farms Bill, which embodies the proposals of the Bt. Hon. J. G. Coates for putting more unemployed >and their families on the lajid, will be introduced in the House to-niglit. A meeting of Cabinet this afternoon will probably approve the final draft, the completion of which represents weeks of effort on the part of the Minister, and is the most effective means he can suggest within the meagre limits of the finances available. Recent information received by the Minister suggests that a demand for land for settlement in New Zealand has been revived in spite or the intensity of the depression,. and late figures 6how that upwards of 8000 applications have been received from men, some with capital and some without, Tor assistance to get on to the soil. The results of the original small farm plan, in the Ministerial view, arc sufficient to encourage the belief that its extension and enlargement are warranted, especially in the light of the knowledge that of the 700 men placed on "the land under it ,nearly 300 are now entirely off the unemployment fund. The legislation to be presented to-night is designed to facilitate the placing of additional numbers of men on undeveloped portions of existing rural holdings. The acreages will be larger than provided under the earlier scheme. Acquisition is to be on a leasehold basis, and although power will be reserved to enter into leases compulsorily, it is gathered that this authority will be availed of sparingly, will be confined to extreme cases only, and when all other methods of negotiation have failed. The bill contains machinery for the payment of rentals for a period of years, and defines the ultimate liability of the new settler, who, in addition to receiving initial assistance from the State,; will be eligible for a limited period for weekly sustenance allowances from the Unemployment Fund.