SETTLERS FROM AMERICA.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 6 January 1923, Page 4

SETTLERS FROM AMERICA.

NEW AUSTRALIAN SCHEME. CANADA'S POSITION. SYDNEY, Dec. I. In connection with the proposal to.

; establish an American colony, covering ' l half a million acres, in this estate, the t question has been raised as to whether ; ■ tiie Canadian Government would taiie » ott'ence at Australian land settlement j : propaganda. > Mr. Alty, promoter of the scheme, ! ; does not anticipate any diiiiculty. j i The Dominions have never sought to ; obtain population from one another,.but ■ 1 have drawn immigrants from britam - only. ■> Mr. Alty states, however, that in re- ■ cent years there has been a consider- , able flow of settlers from Canada to the United States. The sons of Canadi- . an farmers, with money in their posses- ; > sion, have been inclined to seek a, less ; ■ rigorous climate, and have moved south J ' across the border. I •■ The immigration restrictions imposed - by the United States have checked this flow, and Mr. Alty thinks that Australia might benefit. From Canada ' to Australia, is not a costly or long ; migration, and, while' it would not be : proper for the Government to encourage such, a movement of population, Mr. ■ Alty does not see that exception could be taken to efforts in this direction by a private land development company. However, it is not so much Canada as the United States that Mr. Alty regards as a field for Australian propaganda. In a great number of the American States the land is high-priced and difficult to acquire, and many farmers' sons and other would-be settlers have expressed lively possibilities of Australia. ''If any company is prepared to bring settlers from ovej'»eas and _::.;:.v.- Jitai, it I would be a good thin .1; f-.»r the State —with proper safeguards.'' Mr. 11. M. Somer, secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society, was speaking of the American proposal to acquire and settle portion of the western side of the Murrumbidgee irrigation area. All the original irrigation settlements in California, he pointed out, were established by private companies or syndicates getting hold of the land and water. The Chaffey Brothers' development of Mildura was a typical case on the same lines. The American methods led to exorbitant prices being demanded for the land, and the tendency for years past in California has been to get irrigation under the control of the State, and in this connection the Government had considerable powers to protect settlers from exploitation. .What the Government here ought to be careful about, Mr. Somers considered, was to see that no syndicate or company was allowed to acquire a lot of cheap land that was only cheap because it was dry, and get hold of water rights and then jump up the price of the land to the settlers. It would be necessary to fix a maximum price at which the I^.l d could be sold, as was done in some States in America. In California, which seems "to be the only State with any extent of territory to Fettle, the Government was forcing large holders to subdivide aiid sell, by making water available, and then putting on a high tax that made it impossible to hold the land unless it was irrigated. "If the proposal is put on a fair basis, and the incoming settlers duly safeguarded," said Mr Somer, "I cannot see any reason why this- American scheme should not be welcomed. There are infinitely greater opportunities here thau_ in Canada and'the United States, but it is obvious that the interests of the State nnd the prospective settler have to be carefully -safeguarded in propositions of this nature."