MINISTER AND "N.Z. HERALD"

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 91, 14 October 1926, Page 12

MINISTER AND "N.Z. HERALD"

MR, M'LEOD REPLIES TO A LEADER

a vigorous rejoinder.

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

AUCKLAND, This Day

In reply to the "Herald's" criticism of the Government's land settlement policy, the Hon. A. .1). M'Leod, speaking at Papakurn last evening, said: "Now, a word in regard lo I hat 'thunderer of the North, the 'New Zealand Herald,' in which in a sub-leader this morning the following appeared:— 'Why has the Government not availed itself of the money provided under the Empire settlement scheme? It was not in this spirit the country was first profitably settled under conditions far more arduous and exacting than any no w kn o w r>.' "So far ;is the first matter is concerned, 1 ask the 'Herald' to set out in cold print, so that all can understand just what the offer of I he Empire Settlement Committee is. As to the second matter, it was certainly not by unemployment relief that the country was settled, but in the main by men who went out in what was then, the backblocks, and with their wives lived in slab and clay wharcs and worked from daylight until dark. They were not in the position of having a house and a minimum wage provided for them in ihe event of their drift to the towns. After my experience of close on fifty years on' the land, I do not wish to see that method of settlement become necessary in the future. Auckland is not i rew Zealand. With fhe ' Herald ' we all recognise that Auckland is an important part of New Zealand, but it is not New Zealand. Apparently those responsible for many of that paper's editorials regard the expenditure of borrowed money in the Auckland Province as a virtue, but in any other part of the Dominion as a vice. In the bulk of the occupied lands in the Auckland province there are great future possibilities, in respect of both production and population carrying capacity. Full development, however, will not take place in a day, nor yet in a generation, even if to please the 'Herald' I relinquish my position as Minister of Lands immediately."