LAND FOR SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3109, 13 June 1917, Page 6

LAND FOR SOLDIERS

POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT

COMPULSORY PURCHASE

A WAIPAWA PETITION

STATEMENT BY SIR FRANCIS BELL

A very clear and full exposition of tho policy of the Government towards the settlement of returned soldiere on land was made by the Acting-Minister of ljMuh (Sir Francis Bell) in reply to a deputation from Wuipavra. which addressed him on the subject yesterday The deputation consisted of llr. H. M. Kathboue, chairman of the Waipawa. Progressive Association, Mr. W. R. Limbrick, Mayor of Waipawa, and Mr. C. Critchley, a member of the association. The deputation was introduced by Mr. George- Hunter, member for the district. The request of tho deputation was tifat the Government should acquire in the Waipawa district sufficient areas of land to supply the needs of the men who had left the district to serve in tho Army, and eevcrnl properties were mentioned as being especially suitable for the purpose. Chief anion? them was tho Pourerere Estate, owned by Mr. C. J. Nairn, now resident in England and in support of the demand for the purchase- of this block the deputation presented to tho Minister a big petition with a very large number of eignntures appended. This petition set out that the property consisted of 6000 acres, that tho land was good, and that it wag connected by good roads with the towns of Waipawa and Otene. It wag further pointed out that the present owner was arranging to cut up the property and sell it by auction, but the deputation urged that tho land should be acquired by tho Government for soldiers, and that tho Government should not allow it to pass into the possession of civilians. Another estate mentioned ivns "Taujnumu," of some 7000 acres of land, very suitable for occupation by returned soldiers. Tho Mayor named a few other smaller blocks of high-priced land, ono piece in the borough, which he suggested would be suitable for subdivision into small lois. Tho chief reason urged for the acquisition of land within the Waipawa district was that soldiers who had gone from that district had been unable sinco their return to obtain laud near at hand. H was stated, however, that one suck settler had been able to get an area in the Fahiatna district, and that two others had been successful in the recent Porangahau ballot.

■ Supply Equal to Demand. Sir Francis Bell thanked tho depuU- : tiou for having put tlie matter before : him iu such a terse, businesslike nian- ; ner. Ho wished them to understand, he said, that up till the present he had not received any complaints' from ouy re--1 turned soldier thut tliero was not land available for him 'somewhere near the district where ho enlisted. There might : bo such cases, but he had not heard of them. But tho great problem ahead was not to find land for the small bodies of ; men returning now, but for the men of the main Army when they came back to tlie country, it was the intention of the Government to provide land for euch of these men as would require it by the acquisition of areas of private land, and by the setting apart ot Crown laud, and this intention had been carried out to the extent that was immediately necessary, and the land had been acquired all over New Zealand. But it was impossible to admit that land at Ttikapau and Porangahau was not land within the district from which Waipawa men had come. The Government could not create districts of such minute magnitude as any suggestion to the contrary of that would involve. Approximately within tho area of considerable districts all over the country tho Government had acquired land, and later the Government would acquire a great deal more of tho waste lands now held by Natives so far as this was possible. Pourerere Estate. Hβ would first deal with the request put before him by Mr. Kathboiie, apparently supported by a very large petition, lie suggested that tho question of whether land was owned by absentees or whether it was lying idle disappeared from the present consideration. When the Government had before it tho compulsory purchase of land, as distiuct from the purchase of land by negotiation, tho Government would not hesitate to apply the principle of compulsion, but ho wisiied the deputation to appreciate that what he had said about the supply being equal to the present demand showed that so far, without tho aid of compulsion, tho Cloy- ' eminent hod been ablo to supply this demand. Obviously the priniciple of compulsion was only to bo applied—it never had been applied otherwise—after tho failure of private negotiations. And he knew of no case in which the principle of compulsion had beeu applied when tho owner had himself subdivided his land and offered , it for sale. For tho purpose of promoting settlement, it waß obvious that in such a case it was not necessary or even, desirable to apply the principle of compulsion, which was applied only for the purpose of insisting upon the sub-division and closer settlement of land. Therefore the only question that arose in connection with this Pourerere Estatewas whether the land was so exceptionally desirable for discharged soldiors that the Government should not permit the laud to be settled by ordinary civilians. Tie was by no means satisfied that this land was so exceptionally suited for discharged soldiers by comparison with other lands not being subdivided that he ought to stop subdivision and sale by the present owner and exercise his power of compulsory purchase. He did not eiiy that the matter was yet finally decided, because the final reports Jiad not yet been fully It must be remembered that in tin's question of the acquisition of land, and especially of land for soldiers, there was to 1« considered the possibility of reading the land in such a way as to make subdivision into sufficiently small areas possible without undue cost, for in every case the cost of the land to the settler was the purchase price pins the cost of roading. This was one of the very important elements which the Department of Land Purchase liml ••■ consider. If it could get land in the Waipftwa district at a reasonable cost, land which could be roaded without un--duly increasing the cost, the Government was orepared to buy it for thp soldiers. Of this land at Ponrcrtro he had some iwMi'.ial knowledge, by reason of the fuel: that he liad owned adjoining land, and lie asived with all Hint had been <;\id about thi> quality of the land, l,ut l.lif otlit-r important questions wore whr>tni>r it' could lie snbiliviileil into umaller areas thon those proposed bv ih? iiH'cpiit vndor at a reasonable cost for extra roading, and whether it wni at such a distance from the rail by main rind access as to make it specially desirable for the Government to exercise it* nowi'i- of omnpnlsnry purchase in order to compel the sMileniPiit nf the land l,y soldiers and not by civilians. No Land for Civilians. The Mayor had mentioned other lauds which iu his judgment were suitable for the settlement of civilians rather lhan of soldiers. He (Sir Francis Bell) hud endeavoured to make himself familiar with the means at the disposal of the Government, " n d he was satisfied thut the available funds must lie used for tho acquiring of laud for soldiers, and that tho interests of other settlers looking to tlie Government for land must give way. This must bo so to such un extent that practically there might bo no money for the purchase of land for ordinary settlement.

Tie was quite in sympathy with Ilio idea of the Waipawa people (hat, as this property of Pourercre was to be subdivided in any case, Hie Government should ensure that it should be Bottled by soldiers, but ho had n.n important duty—to determine whether this properly was best for him to purchase in competition with othei- properties offered In him for the money he had in hand. It was not reluctance to exercise the compulsory power of purchase given him "by tho law which made him refrain from acceding to tho request now made to him, but want of Ratisfaeiion that this T>ourcrore block yaa the best block avuilablo

for tho settlement of soldiers of all the lands now at his disposal.

For Weaker Men,

He had been glad to hear from the deputation that there were other properties in the district which could be acquired for subdivision into vety much smaller areas, and he would give them tho reason. The discharged soldiers je(iniring land were of two classes, and those who hud come back up till the present were mostly in the second class to which he would refer. In the first class were the best class of young New Zealanders, who would come bark lit and well, and who would not want any molly-coddling. "They won't stand it from me now," he said. "They won't go to the State farms, they won't go to the technical schools, they want to maketheir own way on unimproved land. Now there is another class of men partially disabled by wounds or sickness who are in an entirely different category. For these men sections near to towns or within towns will have to bo provided, because- they will want to be near doctors, and their disabilities will prevent their going out into the back country. J shall need all the land that T can get of the class you have been suggesting. All that i can get 1 am anxious to negotiate for, except that in this .second case it must bo really good land, and therefore highpriced. Tt must be land which can be used in small areas—what we call dairy land or fruit land. I don't discourage you at all. Waipowa is a fertile neighbourhood, just the kind of place in which T want land. As you know I have been trying to get the Poukawa swamp for this' purpose. I don't want it for the young nnd hearty soldiers. Some of them have told me already 'We nre uot »oiii" eow-spankine, Sir Francis.' It is not out of the bounds of probability that we shall be wantintr land within towns such as the areas yon have mentioned, and I will have inquiries made about them. Aa to the other areas, you may be unite eurft that tho Government has rather an envious eye on your district, not only the const portion, but the interior, anil that we quite realise that thero are properties there, suitable for our purpose. If thin should prove to be so, it" is very probable that in the end soldiers will be put upon them. Common-sense and Reason. "But it is utterly idle to say that we must ?ct to work now and threaten every landowner that we are going to take his land and prevent him from selling it or dealing with it in any way. We have tS deal with these question's with what may appear to be harshness, but with us much coiumon-fonsc and reason as we can command in endeavouring to solve one of the most difficult problems that any Government could possibly have lo meet.". Sir Francis Bell said 'in conclusion that he would uot purchase any more land beforo Mr. Mnssey returned, because he did not want to embarrass Mr. Mnssey's finance. Ho had commilled Mr. Massey very deeply already.