LAND SETTLEMENT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 23 March 1922, Page 3

LAND SETTLEMENT.

PROGRESS LEAGUE'S REPORT

AGGREGATION AND SOLDIER HOLDINGS.

In the Central Progress League report on Land Settlement it is shown (says the Wellington Post) that settlement and development is more active in? Auckland than elsewhere in the Dominion, the holdings there being 25,169 —an increase of 2252 since 1916—out of a total of 84,076 for the whole Dominion. Otago records a loss of 45, Wellington a gain of 432, Taranaki 243, Hawke's Bay (second on the list) 587. The report, points out that "th« Auckland people, with a true knowledge of the basis of real prosperity in. a, young country, are subdividing and : settling their lands. Of" a total in-1 crease of 4530 holdings throughout the < Dominion since 1916, 2252 (nearly half) \ are in the Auckland Land District. One must admire and congratulate ! those who are guiding the destinies of > the Auckland province to-day in such | a wise policy Jof settlement. Satisfactory as those Dominion figures are, those relating to some of the various land districts make a poor showing on further analysis. Of the total gain of 4530 holdings since 1916, 3941 have been created by the Government for soldiers by subdividing purchased estates or settling Crown Land, leaving only a Dominion net gain of 599 by { private subdivision; and as Auckland alone has had an increase of 1149 holdings by subdivisions other than eoldiers, a loss has taken place in the rest of the ! Dominion." Reference having been made to Otago's loss in comparison with Auckland's gain, the report remarks that Wellington ' 'makes an equally"' poor, showing. In 1916 we had 10,830 separate rural holdings. Since that date the Government has created 719 new holding^ for soldiers. We should, therefore, have 1i,539 to-day; but by the latest official returns only 11,268 exist, a loss of 287. Does this mean that 287 farms have been aggregated and" the people sent into the towns?" Aggregation is alleged and particulars are given in the report. Specifically referring to Wellington counties it is remarked that "some of the districts around Wellington, although showing an increase in holdings this year over last, do not show the settlement that i the nature of the country and the interest of the Dominion demand. Take a rich district lik.e Wairarapa South, which in 1916 had 480 holdings, dropped to 455 in 1920, and is only 469 to-day, in spite of the fact that soldiers have been settled on subdivided estates in the country. Where have these holdings gone?" Where the. number of holdings | decrease, and the average area in each I holding left increase, there seems only i one answer, and as an instance particulars are given of a case of aggregation in the Wairarapa. i It is pointed out in the report that Auckland by the settlement and development of its land is building up the j finest centre and city in the Dominion. It is evidently realised there - that "stagnation and decay is the only poEi sible future for a province where the j aggregator and squatter blight is al- * lowed to rest undisturbed." It is held ? to be high time that the whole of the holdings in the Dominion were tabulated, showing locality suitable for subdivision, what class of farming the land is most suitable for, and the number" of holdings into which the estates can be subdivided. Such a return should be furnished by the Government as a matter of policy to show the great possibilities of the Dominion and where the settlement is most needed.