The Evening Star FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1922. Land Settlement.

Evening Star, Issue 17927, 24 March 1922, Page 4

The Evening Star FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1922.

Land Settlement.

' IA Dominion - service has hcen rendered by the Central Progress

League, which fills tho place for something more Mian Wellington

it-provinco of the Expansion Jvoaguo in. I'-Otago, by the preparation of a report ■•which shows the progress of land settlo- ! , m ei)t in Now Zealand during recent years. ' ,Tho report reveals that in tho last four lijyoars additions to tho number of rural holdings in the Dominion have heon as ■follows ;---6(X), 322, 1,124, and 2,484. A total increase of 4,550 holdings, of which m«jro than half have been provided in the latest year (1920-21), wears a cheerful aspect at first showing, though tho progress lias been more one-sided —dr it might ho hotter said ono-ended —than one would prefer to sec. Nearly half of the new ■ holdings—2,262 ’out of tho total number—have been formed in Auckland province, v.-hich makes tho record of tho other districts much less to boast of, and tho record of some of. these other district* leaves no cause for satisfaction at all. !; When the figures for tho entire Dominion are separated from tho results of soldier ; settlement, a very different complexion from that which they present in their eh- : i tiroty ia assumed by them. Of the total ;• I gain of 4,530 holdings since 1916, it ia ) -pointed out,-.3,941 have been created by I'J- ..s,;

tlio Government for soldiers by subdividing purchased estates or settling Crown land, leaving only a Dominion net gain of 599 by private subdivision ; and fi-s Auckland .'alone baa had an increase of 1,149 holdings by subdivisions other than soldier's’, a loss has taken place in the rest of tho Dominion. Otago is in a worse position than other districts, because it shows a loss in tho total number of holdings even when soldiers’ settlement is included. Tho number was 7,959 iu 1916 and 7,914 last year, a reduction of fortylive. lint even those figures put tho position in tho most favorable light. Otago could show 7,959 holdings five years ago, and 203 new holdings have been created lor soldiers since that date. Therefore it should have at least 8,163 holdings to-day, and what it actually has is 248 loss than that number. On the basis ct this comparison Wellington' makes an equally bad .showing, in 1916 it had 10,830 separate rural holdings. Since then the Government has created 719 new holdings for soldiers.' Welling-, tun should, therefore, have 11,559 holdings to-day; but by the latest official returns it has only 11‘,260--a loss of 287, Apart from soldier settlement, five districts show a reduction in rural holdings for tho last live years—namely, Taranaki, Wellington, Marlborough, Canterbury, and Otago. In other words, these five districts have gained 2,477 soldiers’ holdings created by the Government at a cost of about £3,000 each, yet they have lost 1,121 private holdings.

Tho Progress League has reason to ask “Where are these holdings? Can ibis loss bo explained or justified?” On the face of them the figures which have been compiled by the Progress League make tho strongest indication of land aggregation that for years past has been furnished. While, outside of Auckland province, new settlement, except that of soldiers, has -been almost nominal, farmers evidently have been leaving the land to flock into tho cities or a few favored provinces, and their holdings have been added to those of neighbors. But laud aggregation will not give New' Zealand tho increased production and tho now' prosperity that are needed by it if the burdens left by tho war are to bo borne" successfully. Increased subdivision and closer settlement are a- vital necessity for the assuring of those objects and the profitable absorption of thousands of immigrants who are now pouring into the Dominion, and can only increase unemployment in the cities if a- place- is not found for them on the- land. Pastoral lands in Otago should bo made more attractive than they have been as tho result of the Act which was passed last session, and what else is .needed by this province to ensure a new' future for it happily is too plain for any misunderstanding regarding it to be possible. Tho Progress League's liguies supply tho strongest reason why the irrigation and electrical power developments which were the subject of strong pleas and Ministerial expressions of sympathy during the Don. Mr Coates’s latest tour must bo pressed 1 on with the minimum delay.