FREEHOLD PLEA

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3278, 21 June 1943, Page 3

FREEHOLD PLEA

SERVICEMEN ON THE LAND REHABILITATION AFFAIRS SPEECH BY MR SUTHERLAND “Rehabilitation receives very little space in the Budget although it is a subject only second in importance to the war effort, as all our ex-servicemen and women, many of whom are now returned, have to be settled in professions, trades, businesses and farms,” said Mr A. S. Sutherland, M.P. for Hauraki, in speaking in the House of Representatives last week. Mr Sutherland continued: — “Members on this side of the House have constantly advocated the ap- . pointment of a full-time Minister in charge of rehabilitation, and I am pleased to see that our insistent * efforts have induced the Government to agree- to make such an appointment. A director is also to be appointed. If these two men are chosen wisely, they should be men who have served their country overseas and have good Colonial background. They should be appointed soon, before the work gets too heavy. Should Be De-centralised “I have had several conferences with Mr Moohan, the chairman of the, Rehabilitation Board, and he has also visited my district. “Among the first things to be done in a rehabilitation scheme is to decentralise it and get away from Wellington. It is a nightmare to have to refer always to Wellington. “I have had a fair amount of experience in rehabilitation affairs, having represented the 1914-18 men for 10 or 12 years on the South Auckland Land Board. Accordingly I claim to have some knowledge of the affairs I am discussing, and I hope that any criticism I may offer will be beneficial, as I want to assist in this movement. It is not a political matter. “We should all help, and at all times I will do my best to assist the Rehabilitation Board and the Government in this direction. I feel that with the appointment of a full-time Minister, a director and ’a board of five paid members, many of the present difficulties and anomalies will be straightened but. Wish Of The Men “Many of the men returning will want to go on the land, because many men after having been used to the outdoor life for so many years will not want to return to the cities. These men, however, will had no experience on the land; they’ will want tuition in farming methods. - , “The 'Government has several training schools and development centres where they are to be educated, and I hope that these men who receive tuition in primary production will get the same remuneration for their services as the man sent to the vocational training centres. I think that is only fair, because we people

in the country feel that we are very often forgotten. “I would like also to make a plea for returned men to have the right of freehold of their land. If a man goes away to fight for freedom and democracy and the right of the people at home to be left in security, he should be given the right to the freehold of his land and homes on his return. “The Government proposed to settle returned soldiers under the Small Farms Scheme. This is no good. It was a scheme set up many years ago to settle unemployed men. I have had a lot to do with the scheme, and I know that some of the settlers have turned out very well and to-day are quite prosperous. However they have not the right to the freehold. The Government should give that sincere thought. Future of New Zealand “Recently when speaking on the matter of rehabilitation I mentioned that a few million pounds well spent—l did not say lost—was a mere nothing under a good sound land settlement scheme for soldiers, seeing that New Zealand’s prosperity is wrapped up in a policy like that. However, several Labour members interjected, “There will be no money lost this time on land settlement schemes.” One member said, “No getting away with the swag this time!” “The Government has made a start in the settling of soldiers on the land, although there has been little money spent, and this is what has happened: When speaking at Ohinemutu, Rotorua, on March 31 last, the Prime Minister said it was possible that the Government would have to face up now to the settlement of soldiers on the land to an initial monetary loss. It did not take the Government long to find that out. Experience teaches; and experience is something the Government is lacking in when it comes to land settlement. “The Government will want the assistance of all and sundry as far as rehabilitation is concerned. As far back as 1940 the Returned Services Association formulated a land settlement scheme, and worked on it again for two days in 1941, and also worked on it in 1942 ;and at the recent conference of the association in Wellington the scheme was fully discussed and brought up to date. The could get a lead from that scheme, in which there is a clause providing that the soldiers should be entitled to the freehold of their land. I hope the Government give consideration to this scheme. men to be quoted in the Budget as “Yesterday the hon. member for Dunedin Central said it was not necessary for the rehabilitation of our returend men to be quoted in the Budget as it had been fully discussed in the newspapers. But I thought the Government did not receive any consideration from the newspapers. I feel that the subject of rehabilitation has received scant attention in the Budget. It is a most important subject, and it should not be left to the newspapers to divulge the full scheme to the country.”