THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGHSHARE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12570, 3 August 1901, Page 8

THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGHSHARE.

REPORT OF THE AFRICAN LAND SETTLEMENT COMMISSION. NEW ZEALAND’S COMPULSORY PURCHASE SYSTEM RECOMMENDED. [From Our Correspondent.] LONDON, June 28. If the land in the Transvaal and Orange River Colonics does not exactly laugh into a harvest on being tickled Avith a hoc, still the Land Settlement Commission, Avhose report, has just been published, is of opinion, that on payment'of an. adequate price land can be obtained suitable for settlement in almost every part of the ucav colonics, that a portion of it is well -watered, and while some -of it is already Avitliin reach of a market, other parts not at present easily accessible will before long be reached by raihvay. The Commission consisted of Messrs Arnold-Forster ' and Southey, to Avhom was to have been added Colonel Phinier. The gallant soldier, hoAVever, has beat too busy with his sword lately to convert it into' a. ploughshare. The Commission is of opinion that if even a smile is to be got out of the land, a large proportion of flic ticklers must be British, and urges that a- -strenuous effort should be made to establish n thoroughly British population large enough to make a recurrence of division and disorder impossible. ■ In the Orange River Colony there is only a small amount of Government lands left, while those in the Transvaal are mostly of inferior quality. A large area in the Transvaal is in the hands of syndicates or companies Avho -show no great disposition to assist in the Avork of settlement. However, at the end of tho Avar many farms Avill be- thrown upon the market, 'and' the Commission recommends that in the event of any mortgaged property being put up for sale the State, should have the right of pre-emption at a fixed valuation. . .

The Commission conies to the conclusion that for mien with energy and experience the prospects of agriculture* iu South Africa are encouraging, and recommends that the best land alone should be offered to settlers, and that, subject to proper protection for the State, the settlers should be capitalised to. such an extent as will enable them to equip, their farms properly to tide over the* first year or two, and to face the drawback of an occasional bad season. Approved settlers should be given farms on the following conditions: (a) Repayment, with interest at 3 per cent, within twenty-one years; (b) the* fulfilment of definite covenants as to stocking and cultivating the farm; (c) acceptance of liability for military sendee either personally or by representative. The Commission naturally does not favour military settlements of soldiers with no previous agricultural experience, but suggests their employment in military horse-breeding establishments. Four thousand soldiers will be found billets on the* Government railways. Up to last November some 7000 soldiers had applied to stay in the country. Th© Commission finds that there are very few portions of th© two colonics in which irrigation works on some scale cannot be undertaken with advantage. The circumstances of the country arc not,, as a rule, favourable to large irrigation works on the scale of the great Indian reservoirs, but reservoirs of moderate size, supplemented by small dams capable of irrigatinr one or two farms, and by wells sunk by 3 means of diamond drills to the waterbearing strata, are likely to prove most useful. • >'

The Commission thus sums up its recommendations; —Bona fide settlers should be encouraged to establish' themselves on farms in both colonies. These, farms should be grouped together to avoid danger of isolation ; the number of holdings should be limited only by the number of approved applicants; and the size .of the holdings Should vary from a hundred to five thousand acres. Where a settler acquires land and is assisted to stock it by the aid of Government funds, a military obligation of some sort should be imposed upon. him. Special steps should be takep_ by the Government to encourage, sporadic settlement by officers or men from* the Yeomanry and other corps having some capital: of their own, and the aid of the Government should also be extended to bona fide settlers other than soldiers, provided that the requirements for all soldiers who have served in the Avar have been adequately met. In the event - of it proving impossible to obtain land for settlement by voluntary arrangement, the precedent set by the Parliament of New Zealand could Avith advantage be followed, - land being obtained compulsorily by a statute or ordinance to* be specially passed for this purpose.