Westland

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26985, 10 March 1953, Page 8

Westland

Mr Holyoake is not the first Cabinet Minister to visit Westland to see for himself its great possibilities for pastoral development. When he met district organisations at Greymouth he was more cautious than some about what might be done by the Government; but his attitude is none the worse for that. Twenty years ago Westland was called a land of promise, and the enthusiasm of some Ministers ipade it a land of hope. Unfortunately, it has remained in great part a promise unfulfilled and a hope unrealised. Not that the last Government did nothing. It built the wharf at Jackson’s Bay, began reading south of the Haast river, pushed the’ road the north down towards the Haast, and made other reading improvements. There were also experiments on pakihi land and in clearing other land. If too little was done, the greater fault was that there was no energetic direction of a co-ordinated plan. If the Lands Department and the Department of Agriculture, under their Ministerial heads, had shown the vigour and enterprise of the*Mines Department it might have been another story. As an illustration, the Department of Agriculture has had only one or two field officers for Westland. Although Mr Holyoake made no promises, he was at least much impressed by the rich potential of this district and has confidence in its ultimate importance. He was

possibly wise to do no more than assure the Westland spokesmen that their development proposals would be carefully studied. Mr Holyoake cannot let the matter rest there. The Government and people of New Zealand owe Westland, and the whole West Coast for that matter, some special consideration because of the wealth that they have drawn from this remarkable strip of land in timber, gold and coal. The running down of timber resources in New Zealand has drawn attention to the disparity in value between the disappearing natives and the exotics that are replacing them. If the State’s royalty on Westland timber more nearly approximated its quality by comparison with imported pines there would be a useful fund to help the province progress. Mr Holyoake questioned the suggestion of a subsidy if the cost of developing land was more than the market value, because, he said, the settlers wanted would not be men interested in the market value. But what is the market value but a reflection of productive value? And no-one will want to tackle the back-breaking job of farming rough land if he is going to lose money on it. This is, perhaps, an academic question. The evidence strongly suggests that properly planned development on a sufficiently large scale, whether by the Government or with the Government’s Support and encouragement, will give adequate financial returns, whether expressed in market or productive values. It is likely that neither the Lands Department nor the Department of Agriculture is adequately staffed to do more than make a preliminary study for the guidance of the Government. The whole project calls for comprehensive planning, capital and hard work. For the last, Westland must look largely to new settlers. If there are not enough young men now in New Zealand prepared to take this opportunity of making their way, others will ultimately come to this country. One obstacle mentioned by Mr Holyoake is the alienation from the Crown of a great deal of West Coast land. Sooner or later this will have to be overcome by the resumption of undeveloped land. That fact must be faced. New Zealand needs the produce that should come from the West Coast to keep the national income abreast of a growing population; and Mr Holyoake now has the responsibility of deciding how best the Government may help to bring in the land.