Change In Policy On Land Aggregation Held Unlikely

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29901, 15 August 1962, Page 6

Change In Policy On Land Aggregation Held Unlikely

A revolution m thinking would be necessary before New Zealand would accept land aggregation by Individuals or compart*. Th* Dlree-tor-General of Agriculture (Mr D. N. R. Webb) told delegates to the New Zeeland Science Congress yesterday. to his address on the past, present and future land settlement of .New Zealand, which formed part st a symposium on the patterns of land uee. Mr Webb said that the family farm was one that had always appealed to the independent New Zealander Mr Webb said that there was a body of opinion which supported the enlargement of existing land unite by the promotion, nf land-holding companies tq acquire blocks of groups of farms' and run them as business enterprise. “The history of Isnd settlement in New Zealand is a reflection of social, economic and political pressures of the times. Although land settlement has ceased to be a major political Issue it is, in farming ciSeles, the subject of continuing debate," he said. -, “We can be sure that present and future policies to this field will Have an important place to shaping the direction of New Zealand's economy in the years ahead,'* said Mr Webb. In tracing the pattern of earlier years, Mr Webb said that the land settlement policy of today had been hammered out on the anvil of experience. Since the 1800’s, land settlement policy had been directed towards closer settlement, the prevention of undue aggregation of land, the gradual extension of

oftaS settlement a* • ,reS*°re!tvtag tmenurioyment fflNttKSFffS CMRMk . are ' geottrity ef Tmmm Mr Webb said that the aim of the Land Act had been to give the Crown lessee maximum rights consistent with the national interest,*; with the underlying principle that a secure tenure Was the basis of all farming progress “The greatest scope for increased production lies In the farms already occupied Many are not producing to their capacity and there baa been much reversion to scrub and second growth on country once clean This reversion has involved a big loss of the original capital invested and the drift should be arrested “Diversification of our production is one of the <mallenging needs of the future and is something which Would face us even without the E.E.C., as our exports or lamb and dairy products reach the point of saturating the British market "Research into export markets will have to be translated into action in New Zealand so that we can produce not only what the customer wants, but what he can pay for.” Mr Webb said that future development depended on wise allocation and use of remaining Land resources, and on new knowledge which would make it physically and economically possible to use

couatif was eonW "R > st remarkable situation' that to a country where production ftom.land is the baste of the economy that there is no comprehensive ssy»ts£ “ £ MM* of a MtiqstM. toventory makes and a "Now .thrt we are rapidly running <*t <t eaailydevetopad land, possession of an up-to-date and comprehensive picture of land resources Is surely a ftxidemor.tal need. m When one realises that there are no more than two mtilion acres, or 2 per cent., of our tend surface aompristog soils suitable tor the pro&rtion of a variety of products, it is surrty necessary ttyt wt have an adequate and detailed inventory of Mtr land reaouroes We would then be better able to plan our gramme. Mr Webb said