The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED, DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27. 1932. RELIEF WORK FOR PERMANENT RESULTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11548, 27 January 1932, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED, DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27. 1932. RELIEF WORK FOR PERMANENT RESULTS.

It seems that much more relief work is being utilised for the improvement of farm lands in Southland than iti any oilier portion of tho Dominion. According to a recent report,

as many as S7O men are now so engaged in the districts surrounding Invercivrgill. The results, it is stated, are proving wonderful, for hundreds of acres of land hitherto capable of growing little but rushes and other weeds will soon To brought into productive use, whilst a still greater area has now become capable of proper drainage for the first time and will he vastly increased in productiveness. Touching upon the matter, tlie Unemployment Committee for the district claims that it is achieving a notable aim in connection with relief work—men who require work are provided with work of real value and the public money expended upon it will lie returnable in future in the increased productiveness of the land. The report continues:— “It should he emphasised that all the work authorised by the coinmit- . tee is purely developmental in Jta- " turc, tho aim being always to assist toward increased production. No job is undertaken that ,has not a community value, that is, the committee aims to do those jobs that will give benefit to. the greatest number of farms. Ordinary maintenance work is not, of course, undertaken.’’

In turn, the Unemployment Board ■praises the work in the following term:-;: — •

‘'There is in this achievement something of interest to other local bodies, for the result will be a considerable improvement in tho position of tbo ratepayers hepauso of the increase in production that has been made possible; and this in turn will directly benefit tbe local bodies because the collection of rates will be facilitated.”

“From the community viewpoint, as well as from an aesthetic aspect, tho transformation of areas of dreary.looking waste land into attractive, fields carrying substantial crops is n distinctly valuable feat.”

Whilst nothing but'praise should he bestowed On the plan in question, it seems that local bodies are missing an excellent opportunity to secure additional, assets for themselves with the help of assistance from tho Unemployment Board. In this district, for instance, much attention should be paid to tho subject of re-afforesta-tion. as well ns to that of improving farm lands which are unproductive or only partly productive. It would pay the local bodies of this district to secure, with the help of the government, suitable areas close to town for the purpose of plantations. There must be numbers of such areas which if would not be possible to convert into reasonably rich pasture landAs is well-known, many local bodies acquired in the past, per*; medium of the government, valuable rural as well as urban endowments. The Gisborno Harbor Board’s endowment at Tauwbareparae may he cited as a striking example. It is, indeed, a wonder that, in recent years, local bodies have not pressed much more heavily for further aids to their finances in the shape of endowment areas. If the government itself had, in the past, pone in for the further endowment of, say, education by mean’s of a system of improving areas of poor Crown lands it would, to-day. be reaping' a financial advantage which would prove of great assistance at a time of stress-sueh as tho pre-

sent. Tho trouble has been that successive governments have preferred to expend huge sums on palatial publio buildings, railway deviations, etc., which could not possibly JifOvide a return commensurate with the ‘expenditure. The question of whatifhight be done bv the local bodies under the heading to which wo have boon referring might well bo dealt with first of all at to.day’s mooring of the Chamber of Commerce, which might set up a committee with Aho object- of stimulating interest on the par: of local bodies in the ivumdoid "benefits to he derived from the {possession of rural endowments su.it-re-afforestation or of impMCvementsfor reproductive purposes 'jiff some otl’.c-r character. >