DOMINION'S PROSPECTS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 37, 12 February 1926, Page 10

DOMINION'S PROSPECTS

VIEWS OF THE HON. W. P

REEVES

SOME THOUGHTFUL REMARKS

MUCH TO DO IN LAND SETTLE- . ' ■ ■ ' MENT.

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post")

AUCKLAND, This Day.

Perhaps the most interesting and valuable of several statements on the present position and future prospects of the Dominion made by the Hon. W. P. Beeves since his arrival in New Zealand is that contained in an interview published in the* "New Zealand Herald." Mr. Beeves,' who has just visited the Waikato, speaks principally of that district,, but. Le supplements his observations by some thoughtful remarks concerning land settlement and production in the Dominion generally.

Mr. Beeves, who had not seen the Waikato since the' dark days of 1894 —the year of the Bank of New Zealand- crisis—was naturally impressed by the great change that has been wrought in that district within the past 32 years. The advance in cattle farmings and dairying, of course/struck him most. Still, Mr. Reeves declares there is much to do. He speaks of the large area of unused land, some of which is noticeable from the railway carriage, but much of which, of course, lies further back. Many men, he says, have yet to fully realise how intensive a business dairy farming is. In another [.fifteen years, he-says, the productivity [ of the Waikato should be.doubled. If science, applied to the breeding of stock and the improvement of Nsoil has/ done 'so much in recent years, what will it not do in the future? Any who are alarmed about falling prices should remember that science has not said its "last word, and there may be a great .surprise in store. v VALTJE OF EDUCATION. "There is another thing. All the testimony given me is that the younger generation of farmers, thanks to education, are much more open-minded, and receptive of new ideas than the old time 'cocky,' who, with all his virtues, was. very tough, and intractable indeed. Also I have been assured everywhere that one good effect of the slump is that in most districts the average farmer is taking his coat off. He spends little time at the races and in arguing about local politics in the village 'pub.'" ; EFFECT OF INFLATION OF VALUES. On his tour: of the Dominion Mr. Beeves set. himself seriously to find out the after-effects of ' the boom in land values, and particularly what proportion of fanners/ were -gravely embarrassed. Although' in some districts he found' the proportion to be large, those districts were not so extensive, as he had thought. "The inflation of Rvalues is a serious matter. and-the conn try will take a long while to get over it,'' he declared. "I want to emphasise that it is a national trouble, and gives occasion for great regret, but it does not mean that the country is on the edge of bankruptcy or is facing disaster.. Our rural country, on the whole, is sound. I have not arrived:at this conclusion hastily, but after very. careful consideration. The situation is bad, but , notyu bad as I expected. \ The fall in land values has been heavy and salutary. In some districts land is fetching not more than one-third of what it once did. Speaking generally, most of the land has reached . values: which are pretty fair, considering present prices. Large districts, especially in the • South Island, have been., and. are almost free from ■ land speculation. It is there that I* have found the -. people looking most prosperous." Mr. Reeves finds that, since the days of his own youth ,^;he young man on the land in New Zealand has improved markedly. This he Attributes to education^heaith measures, better rearing of children,. the gradual effect of the splendid natural, environment, the long period of prosperity, and of a social system whidh assures the humblest a" decent standard of, living and a square deal.- "The effect of this last in an educated country is enormous," he' said. "One can see it in the faces of the people.