PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 19, 17 October 1917, Page 5

PARLIAMENT

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Tho Legislative Council met at 2.30 p.m. yesterday. The Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Bill was received from tho House of Representatives. SIR FRANCIS BELL explained tho provisions of the Bill. Ho said it contained provisions that had been found to ba necessary, in order that discharged soldier's might bB placed on the land and assisted in other ways. Tho Hon. R. MOORE suggested that ■ soldiers taking up contiguous sections should be encouraged to co-operate in avoiding the duplication of expenditure on improvements. Tho Hon. J. T. PAUL said he believed the majority of the returned soldiers would bo leg's fit physically than before they went to the front. These men would bo placed on the land under disadvantageous conditions, owing to tho high prices of land and materials, rnd they ought not to be placed in the back country. They ought to have improved, easily-accessible land, close to tho railway. . ; Sir Francis Bell: They will not go thero at the price. They prefer to havo their chance on tho unimproved land. Mr. Paul said his experience had boon that the Totumcd men did r.ot want to go into tho back country. • The Hon. A. .T. MAGINNITY insisted that the settlers who had devdoped holdings by. years of hard work and thrift could not bo lightly dispossessed even in the interests of returned soldiers. The Hon. Major Harris and the Hon. G. Carson supported tho Bill. Sir Francis 8011, in reply, said that the. Government had <lono a great deal for tho discharged soldiers, and was doing more. It had set aside all tho remaining Crown land for the 6oldiers, and had gono far in providing assistance for wldier-settlera. To contend, .that soldiers could not go away from the railways and metalled roads in New Zealand was simply absurd. Tho Government's intention was to pay tho returned soldiers for providing across to their own lands, thus providing them with money and helping them to get their footing. It was tho deliborato policy of the Government to hold over these works until tho timo came when many thousands of returned men had to be placed in employment. He had mot very many of tho discharged soldiers, and ho had found them quite contented except when the patriotic societies had stirred them up with ridiculous resolutions designed apparently to savo the patriotic funds. "Well-meaning members of these societies were doing a great deal of harm by creating discontent among tho soldiers. It was not possiblo to put every man on tho best land, and experience was showing that tho men generally preferred to lake up undeveloped or partially developed land which offered prospoct of a good return for honest effort. Tho. Government was doing its best for tho returned men. Tho Bill was read a second time. The Council roso at 3.45 p.m.