SMALL FARMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 249, 21 October 1935, Page 6

SMALL FARMS.

Eeasons for the success of the small farm scheme in the North Island and its failure in the South, as discussed in last week's debate in- the House, are not hard to find. Partly they are connected with the more rapid growth of. population in the North and the predominance of dairying, and partly with the difference in.the natural features of, say, such districts as the Waikato and the Plains of Canterbury. In the middle period of New Zealand colonisation the South was more populous and more prosperous than the North; it was free from inter-racial strife, and pioneering was easier. But in the last thirty years the North has forged ahead. To-day the population of the North Island is nearly twice as great as that of the South, and the margin is steadily widening. This trend coincides with the remarkable expansion of the dairying industry and with Auckland's rise to a foremost position among the butter producing areas of the world. Dairying is not only ideally adapted for small farming, but is a key to other industries. That the Government has been able to make considerable progress with its small farm plan in a time of exceptional difficulty for farmers is itself significant, and it is not too much to expect that the rate of progress will be considerably increased as the clouds disappear from the economic horizon. Since the scheme was launched early in 1932 expenditure on it has amounted to £600,000, and at present over 1200 men are employed in the development of new blocks. A total of 24,200 acres has been already settled by 361 farmers with their families, and a further 490 settlers will be placed on the blocks now partly developed. This is a good start.