The Hawera Star. MONDAY, OCTOBER. 11, 1926. GROUP SETTLEMENT SUCCESS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 11 October 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

MONDAY, OCTOBER. 11, 1926. GROUP SETTLEMENT SUCCESS.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltbam, Mangntoki. Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley Mokoia, Whakamara. Ohangai, Meremere, Prater Road and Ararata.

Empire migration, or, to use a term now gaining in popularity, ‘/transference of population,” which has been receiving marked attention in ‘ the speeches of the Parliamentary delegates at present touring Australia, doubtless will be equally prominent in the deliberations of the Imperial Conference this month. It so happens that the question comes thus to the forefront of Imperial politics at a time when’the unusual volume and prolongation of winter unemployment, is causing New Zealand to ask herself if she has not already reached the limit in rate of immigration: the limit, that is, under present conditions of opportunity for newcomers. If conditions are to be improved in the of multiplying opportunities, it is apparent that, the effort must be directed first and in the main to the farming industry in one or all of its branches; and it is in this connection that the working of the group settlement system in Western Australia may repay examination. The circumstances of the two countries being so widely different, it would be foolish to imagine that any scheme which operates successfully in Western Australia could be transplanted in toto to New Zealand; considerations of available land at once rule out such a possibility. But it will be conceded that the Dominion, faced with the necessity, if she would continue to absorb new citizens at the rate of 13.500 a year, of increasing facilities for land settlement, cannot afford to ignore methods which are proving so satisfactory in the opening up of new dairying country in Australia. The land set apart for group settlement in Western Australia is mainly in the south-west corner of the State, and has been sub-divided into blocks averaging .160 acres each. The blocks in one locality constitute a group, and, according to a recent, article contributed to the Sydney Morning Herald, there are at present I3p groups, on which 2269 families, or 9405 persons, have been settled. These have been drawn largely from the large city populations of England, many having arrived in Australia without. the slightest knowledge of agriculture. On arrival, a group of families is placed on a settlement and accommodated in shacks until the Government has erected cottages. For the first three months the settlers work together at clearing, receiving a sustenance allowance of ten shillings a day (of eight hours), this allowance becoming a charge against each settler. After the first three months, the apprentice farmers are allowed to enter into contracts for clearing, and when a sufficient area has been cleared the purchase of stock begins, the money being advanced by the -Government. By the same means, machinery and other equipment is provided, and each i settler is then a worker on his own , land, clearing it and increasing Ins ‘ stock as quickly ns lie is able. The in-- | debtedness for stock and plant is re-, r payable in eight years, only interest i being charged in the first three years. The settler’s indebtedness on account of his land, which includes the. sustenance allowance paid to him, and such , work as subsidiary drainage, is l-cpav- ’ able over thirty years, but instalments do not begin until the farmer has fif-

teen cows in milking, when, also, he receives the title of his holding. For

the most part, the settlers are satisfied, although every now and then a family gives up and drifts to the town. It is considered, however, that the number of these eases can be lessened by a better selection of men before they leave England, and by keeping the financial liability of the settler as low as possible, so that he will not feel the burden unduly. Up to the present, Western Australia has spent £3,500,000 on the scheme, and even though all this may not be refunded (through default on the part of settlers), it is generally considered that the total gain to the State will be worth what it may cost. The essential strength of group settlement, of course, especially to non-rural migrants is the opportunity which it offers for the immediate development of community life. Hospitals, schools, stores, halls, the telephone, are some of the benefits which, denied the isolated pioneer for the greater part of his life, are available to the group settler almost from the beginning. While operations on the Western Australian scale would be wholly impassible in New Zealand, and while the group scheme may not be considered practicable here even in a modified form, this provision of social amenities for new settlements may prove to be the most effective means of increasing the agricultural population of the Dominion sufficiently to warrant the continuance of our immigration flow in its present dimensions. If our own young people refuse to “go back,” it. is not to be expected that families from the closelv settled areas of the

Old Land will be eager to do so, unless present conditions are tolerable and prospects attractive. This hesitancy to undergo hardship may or may not indicate a weakening in the character of 'the race. ..But that does not enter into the question. '. New Zealand wants new settlers, and to get them she must be able to put up a proposition that appeals to the men of to-dav, not one that would have appealed to better men fifty years ago.