PUBLIC OPINION.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 6965, 21 January 1918, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

Taurangaand her Waste Lauds (To tne Editor). ..'Sir,--With your permission I will once niore draw the attention of the general public within the County of i Taursnga, and perchance even those i further afield, to tfce absolutely uni satisfactory state of the Land for Settlement policy which exists here at present. Since I arrived here some 20 years ago the policy of tai^ca as far 83 opening up cur unoccupied land i 3 concerned, bars been caried out to an | almost disgraceful state of stegtiation. Tinse after time has tee attention of the Government been called to tin 3 matter, and time after time bas the genuine would-be settler applied for laud to be put on the market and invariably received the answer "not for sale.'' For over twente years these lands, ty lying unproductive, have lost in produciag power alone anything from £2 per acre upwards per annum. 1^ it any wonder tuat cur towns do not graw as t'ley should -10, for their only hope of progression is tbs producing power of the land around them? Is it any wonder that < our roads are iv such a state as to bo j practically impassubh in bad wea- ; ther, when the settlers are so few as ti make it impossible for them to bear the burden of metalling loBns? This stale of affairs is «oi because th-j land cannot be made productive, but far two reasons oniy, i.e., the apathy of the Government on the one part, and the curse of absentee landlordism on tfce other. Let any one travel the road to Oropi and take note of tbe homesteads of Messrs Wall, Dcckery, Carpenter and others. Farther up the roai Mr Putt's farm will call for attention, a large tract of country producing good crops (if grass, maize, oats ar.d turnips, and valued at some £15 per acre, whilst the.other side of the road, where sections 532 to 227 Te Papa, amounting to 840 acres, are owned by a man who, I believe, te- j aides U\ Wellington. I Jus land has for years laid absolutely idle produciug nothing but noxious weed 3to thedetriment of the whole district. Oil several occasions tbe Field Inspector ; tas taken proceedings with the ouly ! result that the fines are paid and the land remains as of yore. Take the I Pye'a Pa rood. Here again tbe abseni tee is much in evidence. For instance sections 313 to 242, 200 acres; sections 489t0186,250 acres; eecliona 464 to 61, 200 acrea; and many others of about the same acreage. On these two short roach there ia nearly 5000 acres owned by people who do not even reside in the district, lising in producing power alone some .£BOOO per annum, In the Ake Ake district there are hundreds of acres of Government land lying idle which would be taKen up to-morrow —good, level, open, fern and lulu country, easily brought into cultivation. This land has been applied for on several occasions with the usual result. It is nothing more or less than a crying disgrace that such a state of affairs as 1 have enumerated should be allowed to ex- 1 ist. and ii behoves m all to take some drastic mean's to. obtain a remedy. Tnere ia not an acre of this land that would not be utilised at a price of say, for sake of argument, 10s per acre, deferred payment; that is. at Is per acre, per anrutn, and a compulsory clearing of one tenth. At the end of ten years the land becomes freehold. This tenure compels inproveouent, and does away with the speculator. The whole of the Hawera bush diatrict was settled after tnis manner during the Atkinson administration, with toe moat satisfactory results. The original price of this laud waa £2 per acre. The cost of falling, fencing and grassing would'then have cost about £3 10s andfwhen once in grasß was immediately productive. The price of Tauranga land should-oecessaiily be low, as tbe cost o£ clearing in tha first place would be much higher, but the original price can hardly be counted in comparison with the lost producing power, as it loses more than It 3 value every year it lies idle. Atiy go-ahead Government would give a great portion o£ this land to anyone willing to occupy and improve it, and make a handsome profit on the transaction. What we require is that this land should be available for any settler wishing to acquire it, the only etipulation being a Btringent improvement clause. Abaentee landlords who have held land for over five years without any attempt at cultivation should be made either to improve or disgorge. A systematic settlement policy, supported by sufficient backbone to deal with tbe absentee pest, would not only settle this district and at least treble our county rates and so assist ub to solve the road problem, but would also render a great impetus to all towns with!in the county.

In this letter 1 have dealt only with Government and absentee land. In a future epistle I piopoaa to arialyse the Native Land question aa it exists here at present,—l am, etc., H. SOUTHEY, Chairman County Council. Tauranga, Jauuary 19th, 1918.

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