LANDS POLICY

Evening Star, Issue 21706, 28 April 1934, Page 10

LANDS POLICY

INTERESTING MINISTERIAL REVIEW CHANGED OUTLOOK OF DAIRYING more" mixed farming desirable [Per United Press Association.] DANNEVIRKE, April 27. Speaking at Daunevirke this evening at a Rotary function, the Minister of Lands (Mr Ransom) gave an interesting account of land settlement in the dominion from the departmental point of view. In his preliminary remarks Mr Ransom said that land was too dear, and undoubtedly many people to-day were suffering as the result of having too much land for their farming operations. Land could be bought cheaply. Officers of the Land Purchase Department during recent years Jiad purchased several attractive estates at a cost of no more than the .value of the improvements. Land that had cost the department not more than £5 .to £6 an acre could, with a reasonable amount of cleaning up, be developed into good dairying farms. It was said that there were only two absolute essentials to wealth—land and labour. _ They were realising now that production was but one side of the picture. To-day they were faced with an entire change the world over. Each nation was endeavouring to be more or less self-sufficient so far as primary products were concerned. It would, he said, be necessary to produce the goods that they could sell best. He could not contemplate restricting production. Goods that they could produce and were wanted were baby beef, fat lambs, mutton, more pork, tobacco, and fruit of all kinds. The old law of supply and demand still held good, but the best goods would always command the best markets. “ The changed outlook for the export of dairy produce necessitates a change in the policy of the Lands Department, at least for the immediate future.” said the Minister. “I do not consider we are justified in so materially increasing the national output of dairy products. Both the Lands .Department and the Small Farms Board have determined to vary their future operations by going in more for mixed farming rather than concentrating on dairying. Larger holdings will necessitate increasing the area of the sections in the blocks now ready for selection.” The Minister then traced the course of land settlement from the early daysHe said that only a comparatively small

portion of the dominion remained in the nands of the Crown. The activities of the Lands Department were many and varied, its responsibilities were heavy, and he sometimes thought that the people generally did not recognise the extent of the work it carried out. The Minister quoted figures showing what had been accomplished also in regard to soldier settlement, in which connection he said the department held the opinion that soldier settlement was still a long way from the position in which the department could play the role only of a collector of rents and interest. It would seem that this was the State’s obligation. Many of these soldiers had 'not been met by placing them on the land and carrying them up to the present point. Sympathetic guidance and control were necessary for some years in many cases if the great work begun by the passing of the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act, 1915, was to be completed in a fitting manner. Referring to the small farm scheme, Mr Ransom said that some difficulty liad been experienced in finding suitable land for- the purpose. Fair progress Jiad been made, 1,046 men having been settled to date, and forty-two blocks were now in course of development ■which would provide for an additional 336 settlers. The blocks under offer and other lands would provide farms lor an additional 600 settlers, making the total 1,982. The sum of £269,149 had been expended to date in this scheme. After referring to general land development the Minister gave details of the Galatea Estate of 22.,000 acres purchased during his administration, for which he accepted full responsibility. The cost was £99,723, roughly £4 10s per acre. It was originally intended within four years to settle about 150 dairy farmers with herds averaging not fewer than fifty cows. Twenty sections were ndw in good grass, fenced, and houses had been erected on ten sections. Giving an example of the capital cost of a section, the Minister quoted one comprising 150 acres. This had a new five-roomed house on it, a metalled road frontage, and the land was mostly sown down in new grass and was fenced. The price was £1,160, or £7 15s an acre, which at 5 per cent, worker" out at about £SB a year—the price of a decent bouse in town. In the meantime Galatea was being run as a station, and this vear showed a net profit of £6,331.