FIVE ACRE MEN

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 109, 10 May 1932, Page 9

FIVE ACRE MEN

WILL FARMERS EMPLOY?

LAND OFFERS WANTED'

For the' purpose of the .Government's scheme to put unemployed on the land, some whole farms have been offered in the-Manawatu district, but whole farm» are not what the Department of Agriculture is at present, looking for, says the. Assistant Director of the Department, Mr/ A. H. Cockayne. What is'wanted is areas of from five to ten acres.

These small holders, it is expected, will'find employment by neighbouring farmers, i Farmers at times can employ quickly available labour—.men who can be secured within an. hour or two. . ' '

; The Government, said Mr. Cockayne to "The' Post's" Palmerston North representative, proposed to set up qualified "onemployed men on these small holdings, erecting for them a cottage and. paying them £1 per week until such time as they were able to support themselves,- which should not be very long. The first step towards their independence, it was considered, would be:the growing of foodstuffs, the keeping of poultry, and the milking of a cow or two.' The answer to the question as to where the money was coming from to buy the fowls and cows was that the men eo.uld secure these as payment for labour from the farmers for whom they worked, if unable to pay for them, in cash. . •

"Will these men eventually be able to make ;a living off their holdings?" asked the reporter. . ■ ■ -

.Me. Cockayne said it was believed they would... There were already thousands of farmers on similar small holdings throughout New Zealand, although there was no statistical record of their financial accomplishments. "How long will the Government continue paying each man £.1 per week?" the reporter also asked.

To this-Mr. W. J. MeCulloeh (Divisional-. Superintendent of tho Department) replied that the idea was until such, time as the man found his own feet. . How long that would be Temained to he- discovered, but in any case it would cost the country less paying £1 than-it. did paying him £1 17s 6d as at present. Mr. MeCulloeh added that only approved men with a knowledge of farming would *be able to make use of the Government's offer, and he assured the reporter that there were hundreds of out-of-work farm labourers and even farmers who had been forced- off the land at present in the cities of New Zealand on relief work. The Government's appeal to farmers for land should not fall on deaf ears if the more fortunate farmers realised that thoy had a duty to their unfortunate brothers.