SMALL FARM PLAN.

Northern Advocate, 17 August 1932, Page 3

SMALL FARM PLAN.

(To' tlie Editor.) Sir—The ofl’shoot of the Small Farm Plan—the erection of milking shed and cottage,, with the funds of the unemployment tax, and the repayment of same, as at present arranged by the department, within a period of ten and twenty years—is the best sc-'hemc in the interests of the country as a whole so far evolved. The same principle, which means the investing of the unemployment tax funds in lieu of the squandering and establishing a capital account and at the same time meeting in full the creation of additional and profitable labour, and developing the resources of the country by increased production, could be carried very much further in other directions. For instance, the 4B scheme, which has had its subsidy increased from 33 1-3 per cent, to .TO per cent., should be abolished, -and superseded by the conditions of the milkers’ cottage and shed scheme. I fail to see why, because a man has a hundred pounds more or less to expend on permanent improvements, he should be given a free gift of a hundred pounds, more or less, from the emergency tax of one shilling in the £ from the wage-earner. Better by far carry out the principle of the Department of Agriculture in regard to the milking shed and cottage, and, where the Government supervisor or inspector recommends, advance the whole of the amount for such improvements as bushfelling, fencing, draining, etc., allowing ton or twenty years for the repayment of same. Should this contact between Niemeyerism and Communism continue for another ye,ar, the lending of money for additional labour and permanent improvements is much to be preferred, and more in the interests of the country as a whole, than the malting of a. free gift to those lucky individuals who have .TO per cent, of their own money with which to effect improvements. It would point out that money is to be lent for labour only. In the ease of bushfelling, the settler would have to find grass seed, or, in fencing, his wire, etc., and the money lent would ■still be part of the fund for the relief of unemployment.—l am, etc., G. 0. DYSAET.