LAND SETTLEMENT.

Evening Star, Issue 14636, 4 August 1911, Page 1

LAND SETTLEMENT.

In th a House of Representatives yesterdav afternoon, The Hon. D. Buddo (Acting Minister of Lands) moved to lay on the table the report on land settlement. Mr G. W. Russell said,- in connection with this matter, that there was an apparent dropping by the Government of the Land for Settlements Act. If the Government did not take up this matter at once they would find members of the other side of the House using it against them. When the Government wanted to purchase land a trumpeter was sent out, and up went the prices of that land. Mr Forbes endorsed the remarks of tbe previous speaker. Settlement of the people on the land had been a feature of the Liberal Government, and he hoped • the policy would be earnestly pursued. Mr Malcolm said the failure of the Government to acquire- large estates for closer settlement was a "matter seriously commented upon in the South. Mr Laurenson stated that no province was suffering from land aggregation so much as Canterbury. The Government were faced with a very nasty problem in this connection, and they should provide a solution as soon as possible. Mr Hardy urged the necessity'for closer settlement. Mr Wilford said there was dearth or delay in settlement of land in the country. There were a great many properties which could have been taken for closer settlement, and had not been taken. He condemned party politics as being responsible for delay in the settlement of lands: There was far too much time spent on debating freehold and leasehold matters.Such time could more profitably be spent on devising a way of opening up the country. Mr Ell followed on similar lines. After dealing with the necessity for closer settlement, he stated that the most barefaced bribe ever offered to the eletoors was offered by Mr Massey, who went to Cheviot and said: "Give me your votes, and ] will give you the freehold at thai original cost. Mr Jennings pointed out the urgent need for getting people on the land. Mr Massey said that it had been stated in the South that the Opposition would sell endowments made prior to 1907, but that was not so. He knew of places where Crown . lands were becoming absolutely useless by the spread of blackberry. Many people were under the impression that the Opposition were opposed to the leasehold, but that was not so. He thought that when a 'flam took up Crown lands he should be able in the future to make that land his own- As to the suitability of endowment lands, he knew of 900,000 acres in the North of Auckland which, the settlers would not touch, simply because it was endowment land. He thought there were far too many people resident in the towns and far too few in the country district?. Agricultural education was absolutely necessary to make a man thoroughly competent in the pursuance of his profession, and he strongly advocated the establishment of an agricultural college in the North Island. Messrs Jennings, Stallworthy. Witty, and Field emphasised the necessity for agricultural efficiency and access to the land. Mr Fisher moved—"ThatthisHonseisof opinion that no legislation is satisfactory that does not provide for the cessation ot the sale of Crown lands." —The motion was ruled &-t oi order, as not bearing on. -tbft-^aJ^^l^Mndci.-dJstussionr Tbe Hon. Mr Buddo 6aid that most members on his side and some' on the other side of the House' recognised thai land -settlement was being carried on satisfactorily. The present Administration were .'pending a million per year in land settlement. Two million acres had been settled during the last financial year. They were not so interested in men who had l.i.p. tenure. What the present Administration were mostly concerned in was the man who had no land, and they were endeavoring to put that class of man on the land. The motion was adopted.