MAN ON THE LAND

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 173, 23 June 1926, Page 8

MAN ON THE LAND

LONG HOURS AND SMALL WAGES (jiTY DWELLER BENEFITS* rßv -Telegraph. —Special to Standard.] 7 WELLINGTON, June 22. The settlement of the people on the land was urged by Labour members in the House of Representatives to-daj. Hon A. D. McLeod pointed out that anT Government should be careful about settling peoples on land. Tlieie wasfno use putting inexperienced men on the land. From Ins experience he knew that in order to make good the men-who went on to the now unoccupied land would have to first woik foi wages and gam, some knowledge of the conditions of the country. The whole community would have to boar the burden of the development of land for the use of individuals. As it was the Government would have to write off about 10 per cent, of the total money expended on soldier settlement, and this would of course fall upon the general community. But if inexperienced men were put on to the undeveloped lands 10, 15, 20 or 25 per cent, would have to be written off, perhaps more. He had yet to find the man who, after paying all his men on a basis equivalent to the Arbitration Court basic wage, had made 6 per cent, on his Mr W E. Parry (Auckland Central) : Why do you bring them here? The Minister: There is plenty of room for settlement and sub-division of land here when the land gets back to its proper value and when we reach stability in our export values. When this occurs the Government can safely go into the subject of the purchase of land, either by negotiation or compulsion, and when the time conies tho Government will not hesitate to enforce the compulsory clause in its operation to land, but I am not going to go into the court with values jumping about as they have been for the past couple of years and get well “salted.” Mr Parry: Have we reached a dead end then? The Minister: There _ is a certain amount of settlement going on at present, but we cannot get the men to take it at present values. There is only a certain amount of wealth to go around and each must have his share, and I say that the man in the city who is on the 44-liour week gets his share much more easily than the man on the land. If a man goes out into the world and takes up land now he lie has to work much longer hours and for many years before he can say he is earning what the man in the city is earning.