Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1949. Problem Of Land Development

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 September 1949, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1949. Problem Of Land Development

factor has a more important bearing ,on New Zealand economic future than land development, particularly in re-lation-to second and third-class lands. The, Government has made a call for increased production, but under present policy it is obvious that this can be attained only through the more intensive farming of developed lands. There is good reason for the belfef, however, that such farms can be made to produce to the limit continuously only at the risk of gravely prejudicing their future. No one would suggest that- in these days of world shortages of food the holding of land out of production can be condoned, but at the the same time there is need for care lest Nature should revolt under the strain of the maximum burden continuously imposed. In a recent statement, the Minister of Lands, Mr C. F. Skinner, said that the maximum population could not be attained in rural areas unless large estates continued to be broken up. But a moment s reflection should reveal that the existence of such estates does not, to any great extent, retard an increase in rural population. The cutting up of larger holdings may increase the number of farmers in their own right —in most cases they are not owners in the real sense of that term, but are held in financial bondage by the State—but obviously it cannot result in any considerable rise in the rural population. What is more, in most eases large estates are usually very well farmed, so that, if they are cut up, little if any increase in production can be obtained. On the contrary, in some instances, the creation of one-man units may quite conceivably result in a decrease. This applies not to a particular district but to the country as a whole. The point can be conceded, however, that some large holdings are not only not producing to maximum capacity, but are, in fact, going back, in the majority of cases no doubt because of inadequate labour and ever-mounting costs. But, even so. the cutting up of large estates, including as they do so much land which is already well farmed, barely touches the fringe of the problem. There are in New Zealand tens of thousands of acres of farm land which at one time provided sustenance for many families but which arc today gorse or scrub infested. In addition, there are tens of thousands of acres which are capable of producing food but which have never been cultivated. These are second and third-class lands. There are no doubt many men who would be prepared to avail themselves of the opportunity to farm these areas, if they could see that their efforts would achieve for their families a reasonable standard of living. In the present circumstances and under present Government policy, "however, they would be doomed to failure from the outset. ’ The problem of the development of these lands must be undertaken on a national scale and in a far more realistic manner than has yet been attempted. New Zealanders are not without enterprise today, and, given the chance and a measure of encouragement they would succeed. Ihe first requirement is a complete overhaul of national policy. Today the task of development, against the obstacles of hign costs, restrictions, and penal taxation, is too much for the average man. Until this country is prepared to encourage its youth to take over these vacant unused lands—to give it to them for almost nothing and to assist them financially and with machinery and tools on the most favourable terms, development will never succeed. After all, millions of pounds are today being spent on things of much less value —if they have any real value at all to the future of the country. The time has long since passed for a drastic revision of’ our approach to problems of national life.