SOLDIER SETTLERS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17431, 17 April 1922, Page 5

SOLDIER SETTLERS.

REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE. PRIME MINISTER EXHORTS COURAGE. Soldier settlers in difficulties on settlements in the Manawatu electorate waited on the Prime Minister, and the Minister in Charge of Discharged Soldier Settlements (the Hon. D. H. Guthrie) at Wellington to ask that they should be allowed remission of rents and revaluation of 'their holdings. The settlements from which the men came were Kopane, Fairfield, Makowkai, M'Kenzie, Arniaaale, Cloverlea, Mangaweka (2), and vv hakaronga. Individual intances were quoted of the dittiouit.es under which the settlers were labouring. In one case, it was stated, a man, after paying all expenses, only bad £42 iert for iumsett, wile, and family to live on for the jsear. Several other instants of a similar, nature were placed uefore the Mmisters. The men, it was stated, were "right up against it," and they sawno silver liniug on the cloud. Mr D. S. Smith (of the Returned Soldiers' Association) suggested that arrangements might be made for rearranging mortgages. Mr Massey said that Kopane haci been acquired for the soldiers well within its value. "i'ou are asking, remarked Mr Massey, "that where individual settlers are in difficulties mean 3' should be taken to. assist them? '

'"i'es," replied i\lr Smith. Mr Massey (emphatically): "That.is the policy of the Government. Hie Prime Minister said he was aware of the difficulties many men were experiencing, and he sympathised with them. He was a trustee of the State, however, and must see that the State did not suffer unnecessary loss. The Government had not bought any land at : beyond its value. Mr Smith: "We don't admit that. That is the Government's attitude. ' ,The vendor of the land was perfectly safe. As between the soldier settlers and thb Government, it was submitted that the settler ought not to suffer. The whole State should bear the responsibility. Mr Massey: You -will know all about that when you get the Financial Statement. AVe are uomg all we possibly can, and we intend to do it, but we have to think of the interests of the taxpayer as well as those of the man on the land. Mr Smith said the soldier settlers were entitled to some consideration as against the ordinary taxpayer. Mr E. Newman, M.Jf., said that no one could say that the Government was unsympathetic with the returned soldiers, but he had seen from the balancesheets himself that the men were not doing well. Any concession made should be given on the amount allowed for plant and stock. Mr. Guthrie said that a good many items given in the balance-sheets presented would, in time, disappear altogther. At the present time no one was making a fortune off the land. Some people had even been ruined; but if men could carry on they would be all rights as things were improving. The Government had decided to help all returned soldier settlers who were triers, and to that end had decided to postpone payment of rent in individual cases. There was no intention of heaping debts upon the shoulders of the men which they were not able to bear. At the end of the postponement period the arrears of rent could be taken back by the GoyernI ment in whatever way suited, the settler. As far as revaluations -were .concerned, the. law -prevented. these from being carried out in less than three years from the time the original valua* tions were made. The men need have nothing to fear. It was lucky for the returned soldier that they had the Government as a landlord and riot private people, who could enforce their termß.' However, the Government would continue to stand by the returned soldiers. The_ deputation should be quite satisfied with what the Government had done up to the present. It was not right to ask for a remission of rent at the present time, because no one could tell what was going to happen in the future. The Prime Minister said he was sorry to hear that there were returned men in difficulties, but the same could . be said of other settlers. He had been round the country j lately, and was pleased to find that' the proportion or returned men who were not making a living was .very small. It was absolute nonsense to say that the land from which the deputation came had been bought at too high a price. In exceptional cases the Government might have paid prices which were too high. Mr Massey quoted several ,• instances where men in different parts of the country had sold land for soldier settlement' at below its valuo. He urged the men not to get discouraged, as tbe country had gone through worse slumps than this. The only men who might fail would be those who had had no previous experience of farming. He himself had been through a far worse slump than the present, and could say that every man at that time who had determined to "stick to the land had come through successfully.