PUMICE LANDS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 7, 3 October 1929, Page 10

PUMICE LANDS

COST OF DEVELOPMENT A very frank statement was made in regard to the breaking-in of undeveloped land, particularly in the Taupo district, before the Parliamentary Committee 'which is considering the Roto-rua-Taupo Railway petition yesterday by Mr. A. H. Cockayne, Assistant Director of Agriculture. He remarked that in endeavouring to bring in some of the pumice land the idea had been that it could be developed cheaply, but when it came to be done it was found that it cost a lot of money. That had had a deterrent effect on settlement. “I view with considerable trepidation the Government’s schemes of breaking-in more land in the country,” he said. “I would not mind having a go at the breaking-in or management of the pumice country if I were not a Government officer, but as a Government officer I would not recommend it. The Government has to pay full wages for all the work that is done, and I doubt if any waste ground brought into production in New Zealand has paid wages to the pioneers who have broken it in for many years.

“If group settlement methods could be arrived at whereby a good deal of labour of the men breaking in that country could be invested, and not paid out until such time as it is productive, then I would view the Government breaklng-ln of such land much more hopefully than at the present moment. If the Government starts developing land it will have to pay for the labour from the start.”