LAND SETTLEMENT

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 42, 17 August 1929, Page 10

LAND SETTLEMENT

KING COUNTRY AREAS

ROOM FOR DEVELOPMENT

PRODUCTION VALUE

The question of land settlement bulked large in the speech of Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (United, Waitomo) in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, when ho said he was gratified that the Government intended to look to the requirements of the man who had . set out to develop virgin land. Too many men had set out to break in virgin land with insufficient assistance, only to find that their labours were unsuccessful.

Mr. Broadfoot produced a large chart, showing the amount of Native land round about Te Kuiti.

'A Labour member: "Is it a cross word puzzle?"

Mr. Broadfoot: "It is a tragedy." He added that the chart showed the land in a ten-mile radius of To Kuiti, the black portions showing the undeveloped idle Native lands (which took up a considerable part) and the yellow portions showed the poor Native lands which had been leased to unsophisticated pakehas with a title that was worthless —a snare and a delusion.

Mr. F. Langstono (Wahnarino) "You ought to have painted it red!"

Mr. Broadfoot: "We shall paint it red with prosperity, and that will apply to the honourable member's district as well as to my own if the proper thing is done. This chart shows that we are suffering from sparse settlement."

Lack of assistance to settlers had created a barrier which men who tackled virgin land should not be asked to surmount, said Mr. Broadfoot. The non-paj'ment of Native rates, and the saddling of the burden on the pakeha ratepayers, was not a fair thing; especially as Native lands made up about half the total area in some districts, and a big proportion of it never paid a fair portion to the county exchequer. Twenty counties in the North Island were troubled in that way, and little communities of settlers were asked to carry the whole burden. Mr. Broadfoot said that from £50,000 to £80,000 in rates was being carried unjustly and unfairly by the European community. If it was the policy of the Government that those rafes should not be paid, then the Government should see to it that the money camo out of the national exchequer, thus spreading the burden over tho whole of New Zealand. Peoplo in the localities of which he- spoke were restless— and rightly so. They were waiting patiently for something to be done. Speaking of the necessity of access roads for small settlers, Mr. Broadfoot said the member for the Bay of Plenty had used that' argument to bolster up the Kotorua-Taupo railway, but if that member was really sincere why did he not advocate settlement of the pumico country close in to Kotorua, and build the railway when the development further out warranted it?

Mr. K. S. Williams (Bay of Plenty): "You need both a road and a railway. The honourable member should go and have a look at the country." Mr. Broadfoot replied that he had looked at it, and was convinced that th© railway should not be built. The area close to Rotorua could be- developed by motor traffic up to 30 miles from- tho railhead. He was convinced that many of tho pumico areas of today .would bo. tho lucerne fields of tomorrow, but there were different kinds of pumice country and each had' to bo treated on its merits.

Mr. Broadfoot advocated the closer settlement of land within a twentymile strip bordering tho Main Trunk railway in the King Country. There wero tens of thousands of acres of excellent land awaiting development in that vicinity. Settlement would bring revenue to the railways. An example of what could be done was provided at Te Awamutu, where tho new dairy factory was flourishing, free of all liabilities, and handling SOO tons of butter-fat in twelve months. Mr. Broadfoot quoted some typical cases of what had been donoiu tho King Country, showing that one 111:111 with 49 acres had produced 11,0001b of but-ter-fat and another man with 33 acres had produced 80001b.

A Reform member: "How much for tilisor did he use."

Mr. Broadfoot: "Very likely 21uwt in tho spring and 3cwt in the "autumn, and the sooner tho farmers of New Zealand learn to follow his example the better it will bo for this Dominion."