LAND SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2217, 1 August 1914, Page 3

LAND SETTLEMENT

SATISFACTORY STATE OF y:- : ■■.;'•■; ADVANCES., y V : -y.' : REPLY TO CRITICISM; When' the House met.after.the dinner adjournment, ■'• '. ' .. .The Right Hon. W. F. MASSEY (Prim© Minister) was given an opportunity-to reply to remarks made on the previous day-on the question that the reports of the Lands and Survey Department should , be printed. The Leader of the Opposition (Sir Joseph Ward) said that his ; side of the House would respond, with the.greatest pleasure, to'the request, made by the Prime Minister "to dispose of the matter. The ■ question was talked out on Thursday afternoon. Mr. Massey eaid that he would not have thought it necessary to reply had it not been, for the 'adverse criticism and.misleading statements made. There was one statement made member, for Bay of Plenty, and other'members, that restrictions were .placed by the board;of the State. Guaranteed Department upon advances to local bodies nrid settlers, and to. workers. The statement was that those restrictions were not made prior to-the Government comjng into office. Hβ Had an official document showing otherwise.- . The resolution .to make a maximum advance, ,on town and country freehold,, of £1000, was carried in 1911, being before the present Government's term. A resolution was • passed on December ■, 18, 1911 ■ to the effect that, applications for loans of £500 and under should receive priority. The effect of that was to , reduce amounts which might be lent to any individual settlersi Then a resolution i,to decline to.entertain applications to, repay existing mortgages was carried m April, 1912. The resolution to make advances to Crown tenants for releasing mortgages was passed by the board on May 15, 1913, a considerable time after the_ Government came into office. A'resolution to increase advances from £500 to £600 was carried in May, 1913, an advance to, £700 in June, 1913, and to £1000 in May, 1914. A resolution to accept applications up to £500 to redeems mortgages on freehold' was carried oil.April 7, 1914; a resolution to redeem m'ortgap:esuto> ; £7so 'tin 'May 18J , 1914; a .resolution to increase the limit allowed by the Act ! on' June 15/:'1914: and that was the limit of to-day, v Going", back to local authorities he showed that resolutions were passed by tte Board to increase advances to' £1000 on May 17, 1913j' to increase to £2000 in June, 1913; £5000 in .February, 1914: The increase to £15,000 for small towns and boroughe was made on June 15, ,1914. ■ . ; .-/.".,•■' ■ ' Advances Improved.

Mr. Massey declared' that there had been no political .influence in connection with the Lending, Board. When he came into office the position of the Advances Department was in such an unsatisfactory position that it was almost impossible,to lend any money to local bodies; It was impossible to lend individual settlers, more than £500; it was not possible to lend , for purposes of redeeming ■mortgages.' To-Uay, instead of being m the unsatisfactory state it was a couple of years ago, the Department was v ; m, a distinctly satisfactory position, and any genuine settler who came along with security could get all the money he wanted. . They_eould pay for existing mortgages without making any restriction, except the statutory restriction. ; 1 ■

; Coming to the statement of the-Lead-er of the Opposition.'• He. had objected strenuously to the Crown tenants being able to borrow money to acquire the freehold. Anyone would have thought it was an innovation, but it was nothing of. the sort. The law had existed for the last twenty years, but not under such satisfactory ' • Sir Joseph Ward claimed that that was not his intention. He made a statement later that he had been misrepresented. - : ■ .... • .■■■',. ■ Afr.Mass.ey said that, as far as crippling ordinary settlers was concerned they were doing nothing of the sort. There was plenty of money for the ordinary stetlers, and plenty for the Crown lands settlers. ' , '. ' .* Acceleration of Settlement; Referring to statements made' by the member for Avon, that -acceleration' of land settlement had not .been going on, : Mr./Massey said that conditions to-day were not what -they_ were ten years, agoi :He wanted to remind tiie member of a statement made by the Under-Secretary for Lands in 1912, that there were not more .than .100,000' acres of firstrclass Crown land : remaining. There was a large area. of ! second and third-class laud,' but very little first-class land; To have been able to settle 330,000 acres, of Crown lands was a very creditable performance. The land was more difficult 4o settle to-day,, and it was hard now to get settlers on to. Crown lands. If! the Government had not been able to do as much asthey would have liked in Crown-lands, they had been able to do a great, deal more in otjier. directions, and over 2,000,000 acres of land had been subdivided. Last year they purchased and settled 141,327 acres! Compare that with what was done four years ago, when only 14.390 acres were settled. T?he present Government had sot-1 iled ton acres to one, ns compared with their" predecessors. He had had a monthly return prepared of the area to be opened in Augnst,. 1914, and for.jthe corresponding months for 1912 and 1913. It was:—August, 1912, area proposed to be opened. 8480 aCTOs; August, 1913, 23,603; and August, 1914,136,824 acres. Village Settlement. 'Aβ to village settlement, the old scheme of village settlement had been a failnre. He (Mr. Massoy) had a new scheme of village settlement, which was boing put into operation in Willowbridge, Southland. It was proving to be a very effective and useful scheme. Hβ had .purchased a block of land near Masterton, and was going to' do, on' a smaller scale, what had been done at Willowbridge. The Prime Minister quoted various cases where land had been purchased bv the previous Administration, and hail to be written down n ow t 0 a ]j ow set _ tiers to make a living. There was a block of land in the Hutt, purchased in July, 1905, at a cost of £21,472 Ho had recently had that land valued and the present valuo was £6685. ■ The motion , that tho report should Jta printed was carried, •