SETTLEMENT OF LAND

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27307, 25 March 1954, Page 6

SETTLEMENT OF LAND

DISTRICT COMMITTEES RECONSTITUTED

From April 1. the duties and functions of rehabilitation farming subcommittees throughout New Zealand will be taken over by land settlement committees established under the Land Act, 1948. The land committees have been reconstituted to include representatives of the rehabilitation farming sub-committees, and will deal With all land settlement matters for both civilians and former servicemen.

Giving this information the District Rehabilitation Officer (Mr J. B. Pearson) said that each of the new committees would include the district Commissioner of Crown Lands, as chairman, and two farmer representatives.

“Each committee will also have the district appraiser of the State Advances Corporation or the farm supervisor, Department of Maori Affairs, and in some cases additional representatives from the farming community, as associate members,” Mr Pearson said. “Former servicemen awaiting settlement and those already settled on the land will have the benefit of the advice of members of the new committees, as was the case with the rehabilitation farming sub-committees, and they should not hesitate to avail themselves of this facility if they encounter any problems.” The land settlement committees would be administered by the Land and Survey Department but would report through that department to the Rehabilitation Board on any matters affecting former servicemen, said Mr Pearson. Land settlement committees in the South Island will include: North Can-? terbury with Messrs H. M. Carr (Waikari) and M. M. Fleming (Tai Tapu) as the farmers’ representatives; South Canterbury, with Messrs W. A. Mackintosh (Fairlie) and G. L. Murray (Timaru); Nelson, with Messrs P. J. O’Regan (Inangahua) and E. S. Wratt (Motueka); Marlborough, with Messrs J. W. B. Stevenson (Awatere Valley) and F. C. Hammond (Ahaura) and H. L. Dimmick (Kowhiterangi).