LAND FOR SOLDIERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17198, 19 June 1916, Page 2

LAND FOR SOLDIERS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —It i 9 to he hoped that one of the matters Returned Soldiers’ Associations will give their attention to is the provision of suitable land in their native province for members. To set aside half a million acres of land in the North Island looks well on paper, but, speaking as ono with some practical experience of the North Island bush, I would say that in most cases the men would be- well advised* to have nothing to do with the free back country bush sections to be provided, but rather to take their chance as ordinary applicants at land ballots for partly improved land in their home districts or elsewhere, whero farming conditions are similar to what they have been used to.

These men have gone into voluntary exile from a high sense of duty, and it is in their self-sacrificing devotion that our present phenomenal prosperity has its foundations. Why, then, and for what reason should they on their return bo again exiled from their homes and friends and native districts to start life afresh on a. class of land requiring a totally different management from tjhat employed here, and which, since it ife always harder to unlearn than to learn, will require their utmost pluck and resolution, and will then only too often end in disappointment? As is well-known, hill men are natural fighters. Take, for instance, the Scottish Highlanders, the Welsh, the hill tribes of India and the Swiss, and it- is therefore not surprising that the men who have fenced, mustered, slveplierded and shorn on the millions of acres of tussock country lying between the plains and the Alps have gone to the front in largo numbers. The very pick of these fine sturdy fellows have left us, and it is now very difficult to get. tho mustering, etc., done, owing to the shortage of men. To such an extent is this true that one member of the Mackenzie County Council (himself a runholder), has suggested at a council meeting that the Government should be asked to stop recruiting such workers. Many of these men are the sons of farmers and runholders, and have n bit of capital, and so. if given a chance in the country they are used to would succeed from the start, but I feel confident that not many will, make a success of bush farming, with its interminable hardships and disappointments which often try to the utmost even those bred to the life.

As for fruit or poultry farming, the men used to the hills would suffocate or die of ennui if pub to such employment, for they would never be content away from the hills and the free, open air life to which they have been accustomed from infancy.

To quote Kipling:— " Who hath desired the sea ? Her excellent loneliness rather Than fine courts of kings, and her outermost pits, than the streets where men gather. His sea that his being fulfil*. So and no otherwise —So and no otherwiie hilhnen desire their hills.’’

I am aware that Mr Massey has said tli at he has no land to use for the purpose of soldiers’ settlement in Canterbury apart from forty acres at Waimato, but surely sir, such a block as Rollesby should be kept, and also Clayton. The last-named run consists of about nine thousand' acres freehold and forty-six thousand acres leasehold, carrying about thirty thousand sheep, and is, for the most part;, easily ridable. It is not in the Mackenzie Country at all, but in the Ashburton electorate, and runs to within ten miles of Fairlie, from which place there is a good level motor road, which continues on right through the run. About ono thousand acres have already been ploughed, and a very much larger area is capable of cultivation. Adjoining is, the Shorwood Downs Settlement, on which twenty-six settlers have been placed, most of whom are doing vljtry well, the few cases where the settlers have not succeeded being entirely due t-o the faulty subdivision and valuation of the country resulting in some of the sections being let at not more than half their value, while a few are too dear. The Clayton tussock country is. on the whole/ superior in quality, warmer and safer than the Sherwood Downs tussock country, as is proved by the well-known and long-established superiority of tho Clayton half-bred and three-quarter-bred sheep. The lease of all the leasehold falls in next March, and the owner, who has no family and does not live on the place save for a short time during the busy season, is prepared to sell the whole of the freehold, but it is confidently stated on good authority that the Government not only refuse to acquire tho freehold but intend cutting the leasehold' into only threo blocks, the present lessee in addition to retaining the freehold to have his choice of one without going to the ballot.

Surely, sir, this is not carrying out tho Minister’s policy of “ Settlement, more settlement, and still more settlement,” or else lie has been grossly misinformed as to the capabilities of the land. Wo know only too well what class of bush land was given to the Maori war veterans and offered to, l>ufc not always accepted by, the South African men, and it looks as if the same treatment will bo accorded 1 those ivho return from this war unless pressure is brought to bear to compel fair treatment for them. Trusting you will continue to give the matter your support, and that something may yet be done.—l am, etc. ON THE LAND.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —It is not- correct to say there is no land in Canterbury for soldiers. There is plenty to be had for little money. Why not invite some of our big squatters to surrender their leases? Some of them have made fortunes out of Government leasehold property. Many of our soldiers uro musterers and shepherds who will, never settle at any other work. It- would take less to finance them on a sheep run than any other way, as the land would not have to bo bought. Some of the runs hold at a. rental of from £'3CO to £IOOO are carrying from fiCOO to 20,000 sheep, besides cattle, with little or no cultivation. In each case from ten to twenty men could find profitable occupation. The men would be glad to form companies whore subdivision was not suitable. Tin’s would be better than letting the squatters buy one another out as they are now doing (despite the Premier’s statement regarding aggregation of land) in Canterbury. Now that our so-called Labour or Socialist members have done wasting their wind on Quakers, etc., they will perhaps find time to put in a word for Canterbury soldiers who have been used to station life.—l am, etc.« CROOKED STICK.