TOWNWARD DRIFT

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 75, 29 March 1926, Page 10

TOWNWARD DRIFT

HON. A. D. M'LEOD'S VIEWS.

"How about the much discussed question of the town and citywards drift?" asked a "Daily Telegraph" reporter of the Hon. A. D. M'Leod, Minister of Lands, during the course of an interview.

"Directly or indirectly," was the reply, "every New Zealander, man, woman, or child, gets a living from the land, thus making it obvious that the backbone of the country is its agricultural pursuits. If a town-dweller's share of the staple industry is £4 a week, then you can take it from me that, at the present time at least, he is getting his shar£ much easier than is the producer on the land. A good deal t. the town drift is prompted by the sheer inability of the land worker to make both ends meet. He is a hard worker, a very hard worker, and it's'not a ■ question with him as to how mainy hours he Bhall work, but a question of how many hours he shall not. ■ . ■ ■

"Things and. conditions must be made more attractive and comfortable for .the land worker, who is, after all, the mainstay of the country."

"Will hydro-electricity help ?". the Minister was asked. , '

"In a slight measure, perhaps, as far bs the womenfolk are concerned, in making domestic work lighter, but the man wbc is making land work pay will stop on his land, hydro-power, or no hydro-power. If he can't' make it pay, then he is inclined to drifj; townwards in order to get his share of livelihood in .the, comparatively speaking, easy manner the town dweller does."