‘Land Clauses Out Of Date’

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32303, 22 May 1970, Page 12

‘Land Clauses Out Of Date’

The undue aggregation clauses of the Land Settlement Promotion Act were not relevant to current economic conditions in the farming industry, and should be repealed, the head of the farm management department at Lincoln (Professor J. D. Stewart) said yesterday. “We have been politically and socially opposed to farm amalgamation in New Zealand, and still have legislation on the statute books which is designed to counteract undue aggregation,” he told the annual Lincoln College farmers' conference.

While it was now interpreted fairly liberally, it was no longer relevant, and should be repealed. There were no sound economic arguments for preventing farmers, who had the capacity and the capital, from farming larger units. Mr J. C. McDougall, of Wairarapa, who also farms two properties on the Port Hills, told the conference in a paper on large-scale farming, that the aggregation clauses presented another small but irritating problem to the large-scale farmer.

“It seems difficult to reconcile the Government’s State Advances Corporation lending policy for amalgamations and these laws. Howbig is big-enough, today, tomorrow, or in 20 years? The Government should close the loopholes, and make the legislation work, or throw it out,” he said.