LAND SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 8, 4 October 1929, Page 8

LAND SETTLEMENT

GOVERNMENT’S PLANS

A. FORWARD MOVE BILL BEFORE HOUSE ‘‘This Bill is to give the machinery to enable a forward policy to be undertaken in the direction of increased land settlement." said the Minister of Lands (Hon. G. IV. Forbes), m moving in the House last night the second reading of the Land Laws Amendment Bill.

There was no doubt that land settlement had become a burning question, said the Minister, who thought the attention of the country had been directed to the matter on'account of the unemployment which had been experienced in New-Zea-land in the last year or two. If the primary. ■ industries were not expanding with the population,, there were likely to be difficulties in other directions. To its primary industries New Zealand bad to look fot the greater amount of. employment and the greater part Ot its'wealth production, he continued. While the secondary industries might be doing all they could, -they-could not be expected to develop to the extent that was necessary unless the primary industries expanded first. . The opinion was widely held that one of the root causes of unemployment was that settlement had not kept pace with the inefelse in population. Under those circumstances it was not to be wondered at that there was a demand in the country to increase the number Of people on the land and so increase production. As a result of that demand and the desire of the Government to give effect to it, the present Bill had been brought in to enable the Government to carry on land settlement in various parts of New Zealand. Considerable ■ Powers. In the Bill considerable power was given to. the Minister to encourage the development of unoccupied lands, and to make provision for the closer settlement of occupied lands, said Mr. Forbes. Those two considerations constituted the main purposes of the Bill. There was a want Of financial provision in the present legislation for the development and settlement of unoccupied Crown lands. The Bill proposed to provide £5,000,000 for the developmerit Of those lands. The Hon. IV. D, Stewart (Reform, Dunedin West): In addition to the present authorities? The Minister: “Yes, in addition to the £1,000,000. under the present legislation for buying land; When the £5,000,000 is u-sed up, the matter will be referred to the House to vote additional funds if required.” Continuing, the Minister ■ said he bad visited various parts of the Dominion during the recess in order to see the prospects for- increased settlement, arid he-had eonie to the conclusion that there were considerable areas of land which bad now come to the stage that gave reasonable prospects for settlement. Mr. IV. E. Parry (Labour. Auckland Central): What districts would you suggest? ■ Not An Easy Time. The Minister said he would not specify any particular districts at present. It had to be realised that-settlement could not be rushed.- He -would riot like to give the. impression that- those going on the land Sunder, the scheme would have an easy time. They-must, expect to put in a fair. amount of hard work and to practise self-dsliial and. initiative in the initial stages.- , The Leader of the Opposition (Right Hon. J. G,‘Coates): What land is this? The Minister: The undeveloped Crown lands. ' ( / . ■ Mr. Coates: Wifl yoti tell us where it is? . • . . • ■ The Minister: There are considerable areas in. the Auckland province and in Wellington and Tarahaki. ' There are also areas in the South Island on the West Coast and in''Sohthland which are capable of developmeitt; Right through New Zealand there are areas which can be dealt with in that way, and there is provision in the. Bill-, to enable the Minister to deal with the land that is available.” ' ' ’ Settlement Methods. . Proceeding, tli<? Minister said he had received, many suggestions in regard to the methods of settlement that should be adopted,.' but at the initiation of the scheme he' considered it wise to adhere •to those. systems flint had already been •proved. “We want to move in the direction which will provide a reasonable chance of success,” said the Minister. “I dontt want to : have , the feeling that we are’ taking any risks. Later on it will be possible to Consider some of the suggestibns/that have been made.” Whether the .Government’s land settlement policy was. going to.-be a success would depend upon the administration of the scheme. (The Bill sought to give the Minister considerable powers, and his aim would be to see- that those powers were used in a way-that would make for the permanent betterment. of settlement. Under the Bill there was sufficient finance to enable quite an 'extensive amount of work to be done. Thete/had been some.criticism of the persrintiel of (the Dominion Land Development Board, but the Minister should have the right to select the members ’since the responsibility was his if the land settlement-scheme proved a failure. , Mr, Coates,: Is it going to be a failure? The Minister:. “I don’t think it will be a failure,, and I don!t think any member of this House hopes' it will be.” (Hear, bear.) Mr. Forbes emphasised that the district boards to be set up would be of-great assistance,-since they would be composed of 'practical men, with, district' knowledge', who could advise.''the Minister’as to the suitability of tile lands concerned for settlement purposes. , ’ ■ Undeveloped' Lar... Discussing methods of settlement, for undeveloped areas the Minister said that in the majority-of cases- it was proposed to select a block of land, subdivide it, and place it in ballot for men of some experience. It was wrong- to ask men without experience to tackle that- class of country. To enable those taking up such lands

to make improvements, the Bill authoris-ed-the Minister to advance up to ninety per cent. The areas under review could only be broken-in by men desirous of making homes for themselves and who were not afraid of putting up with difficulties and of woi-king. hard. In - those easles it was a sound policy for the State to. take whatever- risks there might be to enable the nreii to break in the land. It was propose!. also to widen the preference of selectiou to allow voting men with experience, to. go to the ballot. There were a great many farmers’ sons looking for land, but in the past they had had no opportunity, of getting it. Compulsory Acquisition.

Concerning the eloser settlement of occupied areas, the Minister said that already a number of properties had been , purchased. "I hope, however.” he added, "that we will not need to put into operation the clauses providing-for the compulsory acquisition of land. (Hear, bear.) n e hope to bo able to deal amicably with ,the landowners, but at the same time if we cannot acquire the lands by the ordinary methods of negotiation, it will be necessary for us to take it compulsorily.” . Mr. J. A. Nash (Reform,-Palmerston): You won’t find it necessary to do that. The Minister: I hope the wholesale application of compulsion will not be necessary. You cannot carry on a land settlement policy that has-a foundation of compulsory acquisition'. (Hear, hear.) It is a power that bus to be med very sparingly indeed. It is the Inst thing any Minister or any Government would, want to put into operation.”-- The Minister. considered that the old Liberal policy of taking the land desired under the Public Works Act, and having the Court fix the. compensation, whs the fairest method, and it was provided for in the Bill.

. Mr. Forbes added that If the Bill were passed there’ could be.no excuse that the machinery .for the .promotion of land.

settlement did not .exist. When-the Bill was in committee he would be quite willing to agree to any reasonable .amendment, as lie wanted' the House to feel that the Bill, when it reached the Statute Book,' was (as perfect n; piece of machinery as it could be made. Is There a Land Hunger? Mr. F. Waite (Reform, Otago) said he did not deny that there was a demand for land in some parts of New Zealand, but he doubted the statement that there was a land hunger all over the country. He understood that a month or two ago properties offered for sale by the Government did not draw a bid, the prospective buyers considering' that too high a price was asked. At enormous expense to the State the-Government proposed-to-place more people on -the land, but . unless there was a reduction in the cost of production and ..an.-increase. in the price of produce it would not in the.long run pay anybody to go an., the land. Some people seemed to think that large areas of unoccupied land constituted a crime, but, in his opinion, it would be a crime to ask men to occupy those areas. Au agricultural bias was nil right in its way, but unless there was a living to be made off the laud, •. people would continue to flock to the cities. The Bill before the House looked strangely like a scheme to find work for the unemployed. Referring to the establishment of a board, Mr. Waite said he was afraid a position of “Here's the money, let the consequences go hrin'g.” would be encountered. It was useless for people to buy second or third-class land if they were not prepared to Work hard and practise selfdenial. If the Government would give the country people some of the conveniences of the city the drift back to the land would be accelerated more than by any legislation Parliament could pass. Mr. W. L. Martin (Labour, Raglan) said he had listened to Mr. Waite, and could not help thinking that it was the late Minister of Lands speaking. (Laughter.) The Reform Party were where they were to-day because of the land hunger.

Mr. A. Hamilton (Reform, Wallace) : For unimproved laud? “Yes, for any kind of land,” retorted Mr. Martin, who went on to say that the Reform members should be the last to .talk about brightening the life of the country people. Mr. Forbes was to be congratulated on his enthusiasm and confidence in the Bill. There was, however, sufficient legislation on the Statute Book already to carry out the proposals contained in the Bill. It would have been better if the 'Minister had got on with the job instead of occupying his time with machinery clauses. The unemployment problem which existed to-day could be traced to the failure of the Reform Party to pursue a vigorous land settlement policy. There was: a genuine land hunger, in the north, at any rate. A member: For dairy land. Mr. Martin: Yes.” The day of the large dairy farm had gone. Small holdings were very popular- to-day, and some of the idle Crown lands were very suitable for dairying purposes. “Good land, too,” interjected the Minister of Labour (Hou. W. A. Veitch). Mr. Martin concurred, and added that he did not like the constitution of the Development Board. The Land Purchase Board was just as capable of doing the iob satisfactorily as the board which it was proposed to set up. Why the duplication of work? he asked. “Colourless in Some Respects.” “The Bill does not go as far as I would like, and it is colourless in some respects, but as far as the Grown lands are concerned great assistance is possible under this Bill if sympathetically administered,” said Mr. W. J. Polson (Independent, Stratford). Members were not aware, be said, of the extent of' land reversion that had gone on in the last ten or fifteen years, a deterioration started by the war. A great deal Of the land that had reverted was freehold, but the only land with a colour of freehold affected by the Bill was O.R.P.- land. Otherwise only leasehold' lands wei-e dealt with by the Bill. With a proper tribunal to handle the matter of freehold back-country lands, Mr. Polson was satisfied .the matter was susceptible to adjustment, He mentioned that Native lauds were, altogether ignored by the Government’s proposals. There did not seem to.be any “new blood” on the board it was proposed to set up. A board of tired officials, who were already overworked and who were on numerous other boards would be no good. Welcoming the Bill, Mr. IV. J. Broadfoot (United, Waitomo) said that in the pnst millions of money had been spent in the wrong direction. It appeared from the Bill that Cabinet could not settle land without the sanction of the Development Board. Mr. H. G. Dickie (Reform Patea): What does the Cabinet know about land settlement, anyhow?

Mr. Broadfoot said he was in favour of advisory district boards in view of the importance of local knowledge. Tn the settlement process he urged that the major efforts should relate to the development of idle lands instead of to improved properties, and where possible good metalled roads should precede settlement. He considered the Government would have sooner or later to follow the example of Winston Churchill and undertake the derating of rural lands. (Hear, hoar.) He knew of instances' where the. rates bad reached the stage of robbing a man of his incentive to succeed and go ahead with his work. Men who had been driven off the land by harsh economic conditions and bad tasted the pleasures of city life were willing to return to the land. “I will find yon hundreds willing to come back.” he added, The debate was carried on by other speakers until after midnight.

WEATHER CONDITIONS

DAILY WIRELESS BROADCASTS

Special daily weather broadcasts have been arranged for the benefit of the farming community.

The Minister .in charge of the Department of' Scientific and industrial Research (Hon. H. Atmore) announced yesterday that at 3.30 pan. mean time each day except Wednesdays until the end of the year 2YA, Wellington, would broadcast information as to the weather conditions, especially from the’ point "of view of the needs of sheepfarmei-s in connection with shearing operations. On Wednesdays the broadcast would he issued from the other stations.

The Otaki Borough Adjustment and Farm Lands Rating Bill was vend a second time pro forma in the House of Representatives last night, and referred to the Local Bills Committee.

LIFE IN DANGER

RANGER WANTS FIREARM

Dominion Special Service.

Dunedin. Octobor 3.

Judging by a report which came before a meeting Of the Peninsula County Council to-day, the position of ranger holds distinct possibilities in the direction of providing excitement. The ranger informed the council that during September he had found *27 cattle wandering in the different ridings. He added that as his life bad been threatened On more than one occasion he thought, the council should supply him with a revolver and 500 rounds of ammunition.

The report whs received, but no indication was given that the request for arms and ammunition would be granted.