LAND AT KUKU

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 3, 4 July 1939, Page 10

LAND AT KUKU

WORRIED FARMERS

PROTEST AGAINST STATE ACTION

MUCH INJURY FEARED

(Special to the "Evening Post.") LEVIN, This Day. The hall at Ohau was filled to overflowing last evening when a meeting of protest against the action of , the Government in seeking to take away the land of the Kuku dairy farmers to provide market gardens for the dispossessed Hutt market gardeners was under discussion. Mr. Clyde Saint, president of the Ohau branch of the Farmers' Union, was elected to the c v air and Mr. H. J. McLeavey, representative, on the Manawatu Farmers' Union, was chosen as secretary. The chairman said he saw tragedy for the farming community if such an operation as had been initiated came to pass. The action proposed by the Department was detrimental to ; the returned soldiers, the. Native race, the lluku-Manakau Dairy Co.,- the Wellington Dairy Farmers' Association, and the City Council. If the vGbvernment took over these farms, it .would mean the payment of no- rates ■■ for a long period and an extra burden on the remaining ratepayers. 'It was a grave injustice to those settlers in the Kuku district and needed the serious cqn-1 sideration of all farmers. If this went j through, who was to know Whose turn j it would be next? ..'.,'..'.•'.' PIONEERS AGGRIEVED. Mr. J. D. Brown, as a . 26-year resi-1 dent now to be deprived of his home, j said he felt very strongly that anyone who should come along and tell him it | was .time he should move out was going too far. He had taken UP land when tic district was far from flourishing. He was-one of the founders .of the Kuku Dairy Co. ; and the extinction of the Kuku settlement would mean the death of the ; Kuku Dairy Factory. Many thousands of pounds had been invested by the settlers in the factory. There was no law which could compel them to leave their farms. Mr. H. B. Honore said that he took ut his holding 25 years previously when the land was nothing but a swamp, tussocks, and logs. After two years' struggle he had dropped Qis toOls to fight for his country. After the war he returned and reared a family. He had visions of his two sons carrying bn the farm when" age put an end to his activities. Mr. R; L. Horn, the founder of the well-known "Kuku". Jersey, herd, protested against the third generation of his family, being forcibly dispossessed from the land he had helped to bring into productivity.' He had striven, not for monetary gain, to raise the standard of the dairy herds of New Zealand and this was the reward handed out to his descendants. Mr.. E. Hogg, one ~of the; original Kuku settlers, was of the opinion that it was the principle they should fight for, and Mr. M. Miles contended that an Englishman's home was his castle except in Russia and New; Zealand. THE SOLDIER SETTLERS. Mr. H. J: McLeavey, district irepre^ sentative, of the Manawatu; Farmers' Union, said that when returned soldiers took up bare paddocks and had worked like heiroes to bring theminto a state of productivity they - deserved something, better, of. their country. The x'eturned soldiers had ,a lease of 33 years, with the right of renewal. The Department was endeavouring to tear up a contract which had been. given to the returned men by, the Dominion. They had struggled for years, and. just as they were on their feet they were to ba dispossessed. He was sure that the R.S.A. to a man would be behind them. . Anyway the - major; portion. of the land was not' suitable for market gardening. Mr. R. G. Wall said that on his section of 60 acres ten people were employed. "What closer settlement was needed, than that?. As a founder of'the Kuku Dairy Company he quoted figures to show that without the Kuku farmers the company would become insolvent. During a normal season the value«of the iriilk "sent to the factory, was- in* the vicinity of £14,000. Within the last year: the factory had spent- £5000 on improvements. This would have to- be borne by the remainder of the farmers. , 'Another thing he wanted to know: was whom the Government would turn out to: find room for the Kuku. "turn-outs/ None of them were big land owners. The average was less than 60 acres. Maoris Will resist. Mr. Ruhi Wehipeihana and Mr. W. Seymour, on behalf of the Natives, whom it .is proposed to dispossess, said that the land had been in. the occupation of ' their forefathers; since New Zealand was New Zealand. The Natives were determined not to be dispossessed easily, and would, if necessary, take the case to the Privy. Council. To ask them to walk off, their sections was unthinkable, and, in the words of a famous ancestor, they would fight on for ever and for ever. Mr. A. Colquhoun (Horowhenua County Council) and Mr. J. Kilsby (Horowhenua A. and P. Association) supported the previous speakers. •Mrs. H. J. McLeavey, speaking for the farmers' wives, said the farmers owned the farms but the women owned the homes. It was unthinkable that these women should be uprooted from a home on.which many, years had been spent in the building. Dr. S. J. Thompson, president of the Levin branch of the R.S.A.. said he could assert that the whole 50.000 returned soldiers of the.Dominion would be behind their brother diggers at Kuku. Mr. C. Webb, of the Levin branch of the Farmers' Union, and Mr. V. G. Cottle, of the Te Horo Otaki branch. said that their respective branches were wholeheartedly with the Kuku settlers. Mr. F. J. Cotterill said it was about time they took a leaf out of the book of the Waterside Workers' Union- and other kindred bodies and by direct action showed the Government who were the real - masters. / RESOLUTION CARRIED. j The . following resolution, .moved by . ■ Mr. H. J. McLeavey and seconded by [Mr. C. Webb, was carried unanimously: : i"That this mass' meeting of' farmers ■ and their wives, pakeha * arid [ Maori. -1 I strongly protest against the proposed ' confiscation of Kuku farm lands and - that it is the considered opinion of this 1 meeting that the lands under pro- 1 clamation are serving a greater use, 3 in the production of milk for ; ,the city ' [and schools aiid the supply of ' fat ]

stock than in the" growing of vege- j tables." . . j A committee, representative of all bodies and interests concerned, was elected, and is to go into details and forni a deputation, to see the Minister and his responsible officers. The Maoris concerned have' arranged to discuss the matter with Sir Apirana Ngata to-