Thousands Of Acres Of Virgin Country Available

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14927, 15 March 1949, Page 3

Thousands Of Acres Of Virgin Country Available

Settlement Of Former

Servicemen

Protests At Hamilton Conference

(P.A.) Hamilton, March 14. The failure of the Government to announce its policy for the future settlement of ex-servicemen on the land and the lack of drive, and consequently results, in the bringing in of thousands of acres of virgin country that were available, were strongly criticised by many delegates representing over 11,000 exservicemen in the Waikato, King Country, Bay of Plenty area at a district conference in Hamilton on Saturday. The resolution that the conference affirmed was: “That for economic and defence reasons a bold and imaginative land settlement policv was on urgent necessity, and shouM be inaugurated forthwith.” All delegates were unanimous that land settlement had fallen far short of the promises made, and that a stage had been reached where it was vital for thousands of acres of virgin -land to be developed, subdivided and settled. Mr Rabins chairman of the N.Z.R.S.A. farming sub-committee, who attended the conference, said that altogether/' some 12,000 exservicemen had apnlied to po on the land, and had received gradinPs. The latest figures showed that 5981 had been settled, but of these only 800 had been put on newly-subdivided blocks. The remainder had taken over existing singleunit farms. This left 6000 men still to be settled, and he thought the time had arrived when there should be a review of gradings. Some men had been away from farming for eight and nine years, and if they were still keen to have a farm manv of them could have taken positions for married couples or farm labour to keep conversant with the occupation they desired to follow. They had to help themselves and remain loyal to the industry if it was possible. He thought a review of gradings might bring the number still waiting settlement down to 4000.

The Government had acquired over 860,000 acres of land, and some 400,000 acres still required to be subdivided and settled. This would settle 800, as it was mostly sheep land. The single-unit market appeared to be dried up owing to several reasons, and there remained only the alternatives of opening iro of vast new blocks or the compulsory acquisition of developed farms.