WASTELANS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 33, 8 February 1908, Page 12

WASTELANS.

AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT. A good deal of attention has been given in Britain to a successful experiment by Mr. Kceble, an English landholder, who some yeais ago bought from tho Duchy of Lancaster 12,770 acies, or about twenty squaie miles of derelict lands in West Norfolk, close to tho the Lincolnshire fens, at £2 17s 6d per acre — a welcome windfall, for the governing body. This ho drained, and treated with lime, provided water fetorage for dry seasons, and then subdivided into farms. He erected farm buildings, put up six miles of private railway connecting with the Great Eastorn with sidings at quarter-mile intervals, every farm haVing direct access to tho line. A system of salc&men in London, a telephone, and daily market intelligence by wire, are among the advantages enjoyed by tenants, who, moreover, can. go to Mr. Keeble's office, and draw a cheque for tho amount of their sales as soon as the net result io wired. The most "progressive" of local bodies would be incompetent even if willing to organise land reclamation and settlement on so thorough and efficient a scale, and there is some significance in tho fact that these improvements were effected in the face of determined /opposition, and in some cases the veto, of the local bodie3 holding jurisdiction over tha wastes in question. The rents are about £2 10s, but the land is never unoccupied ; in fact, was taken up by the best class of tenants. There are forty-eight farmers in occupation, their holdings being twenty acres and upwards. Wheat and barley crops average six quarters per acre, and the root crops arc specially fine. The enormous railway freights to London — 8s 4d per ton from the nearest station — are mitigated by a system of co-operation organised by Mr. Keeblo, by which large consignments are taken at reduced rates and quick delivery secured at the same time. Commenting on this experiment, a contributor to tho Otago Witness, "C.C.," writes: "There arc, unfortunately, very few Mr. Keeblea in the world to see with such sure discernment the opportunities that lie in unpromising areas. If there were more the outcry against landlordism would ha-ve less meaning to-day. Thero is small probability of departmental officers carrying out these undertakings to a commercially successful issue in this country, if they should be authorised to do so. Tho officers of the Duchy of Lancaster saw no potentialities in the twenty square miles of fen country that lay neglected under their noses. But the reclamation of derelict land in West Norfolk conveys a lesson to help the solution of antipodean land problems. New Zealand is pledged to a closer settlement policy, and is to that end acquiring largo private estates for subdivision. Tho approaching completion of railway works will set at liberty a largo number of sturdy men accustomed to hard labour, who, it is hoped, have saved enough money during their term of constant employment to give them a fair start as settlers on the land. It no doubt is within the knowledge of the officers in the Land Department that many large tracts of low-lying swampy lands might probably bo drained at a much lc.°s cost per acre than first-class estates can bo compulcorily taken from owners who are unwilling to sell. Many of these private cr>late3 aie already in profitable occupation, and add to the productiveness nf the country, but tho deielicfc lands that might be bi ought under cultivation must remain unprofitable portions of our heritage until by 1 drainage thoy aro rendered a. valuable- [ asjet in ouv landed getatj."