SOLDIER SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 137, 6 March 1941, Page 6

SOLDIER SETTLEMENT

Exactly what purpose the Minister of Lands had in mind when he issued a controversial statement regarding the proposed operations under the Small Farms Amendment Act E not clear. The intentions of those who drafted the measure may be quite disinterested, but the widespread objections raised were to the principles underlying the legislation. It may be reassuring to men holding comparatively small areas, and to those from whom it is intended to take only a portion of their holdings, to know that the Minister does not intend to take this course or that, but they would have preferred to have the assurances incorporated in the Act. After all, this country is, or should be, governed by law and not by ministerial intention. There is a big difference between a personal assurance, even if given by a Minister of the Crown, and the protection afforded by the Statutes. The Act having been passed, and landholders placed in a position of insecurity, they must extract what satisfaction they can from the Minister’s undertakings, although his condemnation of decisions by Assessment Courts as “exorbitant and unjustifiable” may not provide any certainty that, under the new order, they will get altogether fair treatment. When a Government alters the constitution of a Court on the ground that it does not like its decisions, the other parties to disputes have reasonable ground for suspicion.