BACK TO THE LAND

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 297, 1 December 1928, Page 12

BACK TO THE LAND

An Object Lesson

What the Greeks are Doing

1,500,000 SETTLED IN FOUR YEARS

(By

“Sundowner”)

Marvels have been achieved in the past four years in settling 1,500,000 destitute people in a poor country fraught with immense difficulties according to the latest quarterly report of the Greek Refugee Settlement Commission. Marvel is the right term to express what has been done for these once helpless people. Four years ago the situation was desperate and the refugees were left homeless and hungry; to-day the picture has greatly changed and what has been done should serve as an object lesson to every country that has land settlement problems to solve. The difficulties surmounted by the Greeks included the provision of water by aqueducts and wells, building of bridges, the reclamation of marsh, and the irrigation of arid land.

QNE of the chief concerns of the commission has been how to settle the difficult question of furnishing a sufficient water supply. In Macedonia 253 aqueducts, 383 wells and 75 artesian wells have been built for 430 colonies. The irrigation works at F.dessa, which have just been finished. will irrigate some 6000 acres; and the Obar Canal, now under construction, will irrigate 20.000 acres. The Greek Government has a vast programme of irrigation works specially for Macedonia. The large number of marshes scattered all over the country form a standing source of danger to public health and a hindrance tq economic development. The inundations of last year which caused vast damage to crops in Macedonia, have spurred the competent authorities to take measures for the prevention of future disasters. Negotiations are now being conducted with an American firm to obtain a loan for the purpose of financing the application of such an undertaking. Between the two valleys of the Struma and the Axios there are 500,000 acres to be drained. A little over one acre is sufficient to support one family quite comfortably. Its yield is 15 or 20 times more than that of the best non irrigated land. COMMISSION OF SPECIALISTS.

The restored marshes of Macedonia, it is calculated, possess a humus several feet deep. A commission of sneoiaHsts has been formed to study the system to be adopted for the cultivation and colonisation of some 25,000 acres to be obtained from the reclamation works now- being carried on bv the Foundation Company of New York between Lakes Ardzen and Amotovo. Each refugee family is generally given some nine acres of common land; but the lands to be claimed, owing to their great fertility will be able to support from 20,000 to 25,0000 families. The commission has constructed 31 bridges in Saloniki, Katerina, Edessa, Serres and Siderocastro, and has laid out six jetties in seashore villages engaged in fishing and navigation. Much has been done to replace primitive methods of agriculture by modern ones. Motoculture is being gradually introduced into the life of the rural colonies. From 1924 to 1927, inclusive, the Settlement Commission. with its 47 tractors, tilled 40,000 acres of uncultivated land. Tlie commission has furnished various individuals, groups or associations with many agricultural machines and implements. In Macedonia 442 of these have heen distributed; in Thrace 394. and in old Greece 29. Nor has the education of the refugees been neglected. In Macedonia 266 school buildings have been erected.

CO-OPERATION .FLOURISHES. There are about 4481 rural co-opera-tive associations in Greece. Of these 655 are refugee organisations established in Macedonia, with a membership of 44,815. Most of them are credit purchase and sale associations. It should be noted that the colonisation of the rural refugees has been

carried on specially in the northern part of Greece. This policy is chiefly based on economic and political grounds, by which Thrace and Macedonia have been completely Hellenised and delivered to agriculture in a measure so as greatly to add to the production of the country. These two provinces must properly furnish the the refugees with the means of a tolerable living. Rug manufacturing is another trade which was brought to this country chiefly by urban refugees, to the development of which the commission makes special efforts. About 11,000 men and women are engaged in the in dnstry that disposes of 5500 looms with a capacity to turn out 250,1X10 square yards of rug annually. At present the industry is at a standstill and needs further promotion. Despite prosperity in other ways, the unemployment problem is not completely solved. Many families are shifting here and there, tramping the country in search of better opportunities of living. Numbers have been obliged to change their trade and profession and engage in work hitherto unknown to them. Others have taken up rural occupations. Most of them, however, have demonstrated a marvellous capability of adapting themselves to their new environment.