REPATRIATION SCHEME

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 27, 26 October 1917, Page 5

REPATRIATION SCHEME

FOR DISCHARGED SOLDIERS

A SUGGESTION FROM MARLBOROUGH

(' 'At tho meeting of the Advisory Board 'to tho Patriotic Societies' Federation yesterday, a scheme for more effectively Repatriating discharged soldiers was "brought forward by Marlborough delegates, who asked that a committee bo set up to consider the scheme.

The plan proposed is best outlined by quoting the .chief proposals and their terms, which are as follow:— ■' "The patriotic associations shall endeavour to obtain under offer of sale in their provinces a sufficient area of suitable land, conveniently situated, and at reasonable price, to establish a training farm and provide holdings for dis-. charged soldiers and sailors desiring to engage in tlio various branches of agriculture, horticulture, and stock-raising, for 'which their soils and climatic conditions are adapted. The purchases may bo effected by Government debentures if so desired.

i . "Failing an association's offort to ob--1 tain under option . the required land, the Government shall be urged to acquire it, by compulsory purchase. "Prom the area acquired, together with 'other suitable land 6, shall be taken sufficient to form a training farm whereon soldier trainees shall be instructed in nil branches of agriculture, etc., they will later engage in upon their own holdings. .. "Tho training farms shall be of a •permanent nature, and properly staffed with qualified instructors. During tlio term of this war and as for as long a period after as is found necessary, tliey . shall be reserved exclusively for discharged soldiers and sailors; they shall then be open to receive as students the sons iof deceased soldiers, Who shall be .given tho necessary course of instruction -'free of charge;; afterwards the, peneijal public shall be offered facilities. for training on terms and conditions to be approved of. ' ■

','A. board of control, having five members who shall represent the agricultural, horticultural, pastoral, and business interests of the province, and one member who shall represent the discharged, soldiers, shall be elected for two-year periods of office by the patriotic and returned soldiers' associations. The boards shall, in conjunction with experts, advise the Minister controlling the scheme as to suitability of lands, desirable area of the training farms, various branches of production to be established, purchase of stock, etc.

the first five years the first consideration of the farms management, and that of all Government farms and stations, shall be tho produtcion of sufficient suitable stock seeds, trees, and plants to meet the requirements'of soldier settlers. All these shall be supplied at/ cost price. 1 > ■ "TKe' balance of the area purchased, not included in the-training farms, with other lands-acquired, shall be subdivided into settlers' holdings, giving from five to ten-acre blocks for poultry and vegetables, ten to twenty-acre blocks for orchards, forty to one hundred acres for dairying purposes, one hundred to two Sundrea and'fifty iicres for mixed farm-* ing, five hundred to two thousand acres tor pastoral purposes. "These holdings shall be improved, prepared, planted, and brought to a state of productiveness in some measure, in readiness for occupation by the trainees, that as far 'as possible their period of non-earning shall be eliminated. "Honourably discharged soldiei'3 desiring to purchase private properties 6hall be entitled .to tho same assistance and privileges as those attending training tarms, regarding.the advances of capital, upon giving proof of the genuineness of their intentions and their personal quali-. ticatlbns for working and financing the properties, also satisfying the board as to the value of the proposed purchase and- its suitability for their purpose. „ "Charges against the Government adof capital shall be cost "of housej material for fencing, buildings, sheds, drains, etc., price of stock, trees, plants, plant seeds, fertilisers, implements, and oiher necessaries. Any expenses, excluding management and'supervision on a trainee's property prior to his. taking it lip email be capitalised and added to the cost price, and each trainee shall havo the right, after possession of the property, to full proposed Government advance.

"The Government shall not demand fecurity from or on behalf of a soldier settler, other than the property itself, and the improvements, implements, and slock actually required for the property. i/iio parent, wife, ■ brother, or sister of a soldier absent from New.-Zealand aiu'i- recti vin;; Ins written conRent, and having satisfied .the board's investigation if liis case,-bo allotted a holding on his behalf, to work and improve until his return, provided the property be available for another, disuliargea soldier- at fair rates for improvements elfected should the man for whom it was allotted fail to return, i excepting only in the event of his widow or his child uesinng to retaiu it. - This pro■vision is uiauu with a view lo having a discharged soldier's holding -in as hignjy sin improved condition as possible prior lo Jus occupation of it, and in .the event ■of relatives failing to make proper improvements tlie board shall bo empowered .lo re-possess the holding". : • "Soldier settlers shall be encouraged to work their holdings by co-operative etfoi'l as much as can. conveniently be done during the first, lew years, and where possible implements and machinery from the training farm shall be inada available for this purpose. "On approval of the Board of Control, ono son of a deceased soldier shall be entitled to all the I'ighls and privileges his father would have enjoyed had he lived.

"AH public institutions for educational and instructional purposes, other than i training farms, shall bo open' free of charge' to the discharged soldiers, and during their course of instruction and training they shall receive the necessary , financial assistance, determined by the board and the-Minister controlling, to enable them to feontinue and complete their training; such assistance shall not exceed the sum of .£750, and shall be a loan: on terms similar lo that of the settlers' advance.

"The discharged soldier may apprentice himself to-a private individual or business firm, and. shall be entitled during his apprenticeship to such financial assistance as is necessary for his living expenses, the amount to be decided, by the board and the Minister, and any balance of the <£750 remaining may, nnder the direction of the authorities, be used-to establish him 'in a business br home."

The Committee's Report. A committee was set up, consisting of fllcssrs. W. Pollard (chairman), W. Pitt, A. P. Whatman, B. H. Kdler, J. M. Johnston, Morison, and M'Donald. 1 The committee reported in the form of the following resolutions:— "ft) That the present mode of* land purchase for soldiers be altered by the Government. That a new Land Purchase Board be appointed, consisting of two Government otricers of tho Lands Department, and tliroo practical farmers selectod from each district in which land is to bo purchased the districts to be further determined. This board to determine the most suitable land and vnc price to be paid." "(2) That the patriotic associations be tsTcea to act as agents, and endeavour to obtain under offer of' sale in their provinces a sufficient area of' suitablo land, cdnveniently situated, and at reasonable price for discharged soldiers and sailors desiring to ongngo in tho various branches of agriculture, horticulture, and stock-raising, for whijh their soils and climatic conditions axo adapted. Failing an association's effort to oOtain under option the required land, the Governmbnt shall be urged to acqiiiro it by compulsory purchase, in all cases the more valuable estates, if suit«l)fe. to be dealt with first.' "(3) That in order to practically tppurrftffe 1 the soldier, this meeting is ot opinion, that it is essential to immediately - create a Repatriation Department, and that such Repatriation Department be outsido of tho Civil Service control, thus enabling the State to 1 utilise the services of the best brains and the practical patriotic, men of the Dominion." "(C) That there are a number of valuable proposals for dealing with the problem of repatriation already drafted and. approved of by various bodies which can bo submitted to. the aforesaid l!e-

patriation Department for consideration and necessary action." "(5) That s if the Advisory Board will accept theso proposal, tho said proposals 1)6 submitted to tlio Government us well" ns submitting same to tlio Efficiency Trustees.'' The Government's Failure. llr. A. P. Whatman said that the Government was only tinkering with tho question of settling soldiers on the land. They were as a rule putting tho soldiers on the poorest quality of land, and thousands of acres of land which had been made available were quite unfit for returned soldiers. The Government's action had been a mere pretence—they had taken a patch hero and a patch there, amongst it a lot of high land, to which the only practical access was by aeroplane. (Laughter.) He thought. that theso men should be given a decent chance. The men should havo the courage to say: "We want the Lood land," for the Government had not been afraid to efiy to them: "We want your lives!" Ho said that the area between Cape Palliser and Napier, a distance of about ICO miles, and some CO miles in width—all that land east of the main range—was some of the richest in tho Dominion, yet there were only some CO or 70 return-id men settled in that area, where the Government might have placed 5000 in the Wellington and Hawke's Day district alone. He knew, and all present who had any knowledge-of land knew, that wherever good laud had been cut up for closer settlement it had been done so successfully. It' was his opinion that some of the best and most valuable properties should be. cut up for settlement by returned soldiers. Mr. Eidler urged that the very best was not' too good for the men who hart risked their lives at the front, and tho men were not to be allowed to become the road-makers and stone-breakers of the Dominion. He, as. a minority, thought that the Government should be waited upon immediately and urged upon to adopt the sclieme proposed.

A Department Wanted/' -Mr. W. I'itt said that the repatriation work of the Govermnaut was very unsatisfactory. No land had been selected in the Poverty Bay district, though there was plenty there, much of it in the possession of absentees. As president of the Returned Soldiers' Association he thanked the patriotic associations throughout New Zealand for what they had done for returned soldiers.. Their treatment had been something nearer the heart than they, had got from the Government. He suggeeted that a special Department should be set up (not a Civil Service Department) to deal with repatriation matters alone. Mr. Johnston said the grievance up the Coast was that the Government would not pay tho price of the good land.' Those men could not to on the heavy land—they would have to go dairying 011 good land, and out nf 4fl acre 3 any man could make a very good living. They, had tried to help all they could, but it was no good. They would have to do something else. They had to reeducate these men, and it was no easy matter, but now the Marlborough people had brought down a new scheme with & lot of good.' points, and he thought it would lead to something more satisfactory being done in connection with the repatriation of returned soldiers.

The Government Defended. Mr. Hope Gibbons said that he could not 'agree with n lot that several of the speakers had said. He could not agree with what Mr.\Whatman had said about the Government not having nurchased any good land, and he quoted the "Highdeii" Estate (outside Feilding), blocks in the Wanganui district, Takapau, Pongaroa, and elsewhere, which were all really good land, oil which the men would 'do well. He knew of other blocks of secondclass land, too, where the men were going to do splendidly. He was so sure of this that ho was prepared to back them. Mr. Whatman said that he did not say that the Government had purchased r>o good land, but what he had intended, to convey was that the good land acquired had been in .small areas and patchy— if the whole of it were put together it would not amount to very much. Sir Francis Bell had informed him that the Government had already spent over .£70,000 more than estimated, and they, were not going to buy ftny more land at ,£5 an acre or more when there was plenty of .back-blocks land to be had at '.£1 an acre. It was only' too tvident that the Ministry had taken their colour from Sir Francis Bell, but why such,a statement should have been made by Sir Francis passed his comprehension. Again he reiterated that the really good land purchased by the Government had been in small patches. The chairman thanked the committee for the good work it. had done.