LAND SETTLEMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 63, 12 September 1911, Page 6

LAND SETTLEMENT.

i We referred yesterday to the excellent proposals in the Budget for the prosecution of public worka and the opening up of hitherto inaccessible lands by means of family land settlements. It will be a. beneficent revolution indeed if the settle^ instead of being dumped on hin section to wear his heart oat in a vain struggle with impassable roads, which rob him of the fruits of his industry, even after he has tamed the forces of nature on his own l*nd, can be enabled, by puttihg in half-time on road-making, to earn enough to finance him for the other struggle. Given the right class of settler and the right kind of administration, the scheme should prove to be one of the most hopeful experiment* that have been attempted in. the sphere of land policy for a very long time. Sir Joseph Ward tells us that he proposes to apply the scheme both to large areaa of land already belonging to the Crown and to land to be hereafter acquired from private owners, either voluntarily or by compulsion. But he entirely omits to mention the important points of tenure. There seem© to be no reason why settler* who take advantage of the Land 1 Settlement finance Act to acquire a freehold from such largo owners should not also "get the benefit of the new priii^ ciple. On the other hand, there is no reason whatever why a settler on Crown land should be given a freehold to -supplement the great financial lift that the scheme will give him. The renewable lease, with the usual conditions of improvement, is obviously the only tenure that should be offered. The association of public works with the scheme doe» indeed add to the weight of the argument for the retention of the freehold by the State. The settlers will be paid by the State to construct State roads or railways, so that there is a stronger, or, at any rate, a more glaringly obvious reason than usual why the State should retain Us hold on the lands to be thus opened up. But even in such a context the Premien does not desire to mention the question of tenure. The choice between freehold and leasehold ia ftp-, parently one of those details that can be left for peaceful settlement after the General Election. Another help which the Government hopes to give these settlers, in common with others, is that of co-operative banks. "It is desirable," says the Premier, "to enable small men, or small associations of men, to whom credit is not readily, if at all, accessible under our existing banking system, to obtain it for productive purposes, or purposes ensuring economy." Here, agmn, we believe him to be on sound and promising lines. The principle of co-operation is one deserving of a far wider extension than it has as yet received in this country. Ons of the penalties that we have had to pay for the vigour with which State enterprise and State interference have been pushed in every direction is the sapping of individual* initiative and the diversion of private energy from lines which it has taken in older and less favourably situated countries. Co-operation and co-partnership are conspicuous examples of this defect. The comparative affluence of our working men gives them a much better chance for successful co-operation than those of Great Britain, but their thoughts have been turned instead to Parliament and the Arbitration Court. In 1909 the 1430 distributive societies of the United Kingdom had nearly two and a-half million members, and made ' a profit of more than £10,000,000; and of their aggregate shave capital of £30,--804.246 no member was allowed by law to hold more than £200 worth. At the same time the Various productive departments of these societies, carrying on the businesses of baking, milling, bootmaking, etc., had ah annual output of about £3,000,000. There is. also an English Wholesale Society with an output in aclures of more than £6,uu0,--000, and a Scottish Wholesale Society with an output of nearly £2,500,000. It

purpose to note that the English Whole* sale Society also does a large banking business the turnover for 1909 being in excess of £ 122,000,000. It is at first sight remkrkable that two of the most successful co-operative ventures in 2Cew Zealand— the Mutual Fire Insurance scheme and the Dairy Companies—relate to rural industry | but the fact seems to square with our suggestion as to the antagonism between industrial strife and the spirit of co-operation. To these flourishing experiments the Premier proposes to and a third in the shape of farmers' co-operative banks. The idea fseems to us, a« we have said, both sound and hopeful. It is proposed that farmers' associations, even with a comparatively amall membership, may be incorporatea and empowered to borrow money in order to lend it to their members on approved security for productive purposes. The repayment of the money by the associations will, under certain conditions, be guaranteed by the Sta-te. The effect should be to enable settlers who cannot borrow from the banks at j present on favourable terms, or perhaps cannot borrow at all, to get what they need at reasonable rates. At the same time the responsibility of their fellow members to make good any losses should provide a guarantee of prudent management, while character and capacity would count in security. We do not think that anybody in this country will object to the Government reversing this role. The success of aimilar schemes fa Canada. France, Germany, and other countries entitles one to say that the experiment is not visionary or speculative, but hae an honourable record of practical success behind ! it.