GOOD FAITH IN FUTURE OF DISTRICT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22620, 24 April 1948, Page 8

GOOD FAITH IN FUTURE OF DISTRICT

DESIRE FOR LAND SMALL FARM GROUP INTEREST SPREADING "Faith in the future of the Gisborne district and the sympathetic attitude of land-owners in a position to be of assistance by making available areas of land, anything from two to 50 acres or more, are held by the group and it is hoped that some progress may be reported shortly,’’ said a spokesman for the Returned Servicemen’s Small Farm Settlement Group in Gisborne today. It was learned that certain interviews already had been carried out and the executive had good reason to consider that some early results might be achieved. The group was interested in the welfare of returned men requiring rehabilitation assistance for settlement on small areas of land and those in the same category able to finance their projects privately. The majority on the register were in the latter class. Private-Finance Section The spokesman wished it made clear that any land offered to the group would be divided among the members with private finance, if the area lent itself to sub-division. One or two men required only two or three acres for intensive cropping and it was thought that some generously-dis-posed farmer might have a piece of suitable land be could spare to settle a returned man. Others might be able to make more land available. Members of the group requiring rehabilitation finance, he said, would have their claims pressed forward by the organisation in the proper quarters. That the group’s activities were becoming known further afield was brought home to the executive when correspondence was received from a man in Hastings wishing his name to be placed on the list to be settled in this district. Hastings Circularised The Hastings correspondent said rehabilitation trainees in the Hastings area last year were circularised asking if they were interested in settling on bare land and whether they would be interested in working in the Gisborne

district. Gisborne had been reported on very favourably by ‘‘experts”. He had been interested, personally, and had been promised that he would receive further information. No further word concerning the Gisborne project had been heard. As far as he could gather, he did not think many of the Hastings’ trainees desired to shift to Gisborne or it might have been that they did not realise the potentialities of the district. However he added, if something more definite from the Rehabilitation Department in regard to the land were forthcoming more might be interested. ‘‘You may as a body resent the intrusion of outside men into your district before your own needs for land are satisfied,” he stated. “That, of course, would be perfectly understandable. Better Service to Growers “However, on the other hand, the more fruitgrowers and small-holders there are, the larger is the say you have at Dominion conferences and the service given to growers, e.g., better transport facilities, organised growerdistribution, specialised advice in the nature of department instructors, growers’ own experimental orchards and general grower co-operation.” The group representative said the question of any intrusion by men of outside districts had not been considered by a meeting and he refrained from comment on that account. It was the policy of the group, he said, to keep the names of members on a confidential list because a number were employed in other pursuits while awaiting their opportunities to take up the work of their choice on the land. Correspondence was being handled through the postal address of: “Land”, Box 173, Gisborne .