AT MOTUEKA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 13 April 1928, Page 6

AT MOTUEKA

FURTHER REPRESENTATIONS

WELCOME BV THE M.W'OR

The .Minister rf Lauds (the Hon. A. D. McLeod) and parly hit. Murclnson at 8.30 yesterday morning and arrived in Motueka for lunch.

Deputations were heard in the early afternoon.

The Mavor of Motueka (Mr .7. \\. Wallace) s'llilalilv welcomed the Minister. Motueka had no troubles facing it

at all. Mr Hudson represented them »> well Unit they had no complaints to make. The .Minister'.-- visit '.van an honour to- the town.

Mr Hudson associated himself with the Mayor"? welcome. There would be one or two deputations on matters thatvery deeply concerned the members ol the' deputations and the district as a whole.

Mr Spencer Smith. President of the Motueka Progre?." League, joined in the welcome. A Mil II PBK.IITKP- OUTLOOK The. Minister assured those present that it gave him very great pleasure to meet as many as possible of the people of the country. As Minister of In dustries and Commerce he look a keen interest- in matter? affecting the townspeople. The speaker did not agree, that ibis country could get along with its primary industries alone. He knew the growth of the secondary industries must be. slow, but, they should not be neglected by Die Government. The primary industries were, of course, more important, and on their success the welfare of the country depended. The

people i-l ihe lai ger low le weie inclined l<> fnrgei thai their prosperity was hound up with 1 hat of ! lie man on Ihe laud, bin I hat wa- no; so in Ihe smallei towns such as .Motueka. The -peakei was sure iii.it when he did anything for the orimarv producers he was helping >..-.• ■ -■':,,- ••:' Hie w.'io'e comitrv During i'iie r.'.:0.-»s b ■ h id inveii 'd over !);•' who!- J mimiS'i ■.:■', h ■ v., pica 'd f.j .vr. I.!i .! 1.11 ■..- -.- ..- i much brighter 0 illoo-i •.'■,■■,'.'■.■ he "• . !•■••!.■:)■' i n')'. mism The prosperity <•'- P!2l was 10.-.! bee nisi- people though) tie- tide I. id : urned. and \\ en I in foi ovci iiiqioi la - '.ion and other unwarranted expenditure. I'.iH present du\ rises in price.; were an indication of .. real stability. In Mr Hudson, the electorate had a tepivsentativi who was keeping a very I careful watrh on I lie needs oi the .lis 1 rid. ROAD TO -ANDY' RAY Ml Spell, er .Smith spoke h I a deptl ialioii requesting improved access to Sandy Bay . The sel i iers then- had put up for years wit h a Ira. k thai was iin passable for vehiculai traffic. He iiu-dcrstoi-1 Hie Department's objection to . oust iin ling a road on die route already surveyed was the large cost, but it would he shown that the cosi would n.,i he so ureal. The only mean- of shilling produce and goods at present was by iaunch dependent on tides. The lack <<f access uas a wiy urea! handicap to The farmer.-, in the dist riel. Mr Martin. . ne i i il..- settlers on the Sandy Bay mast, said that the district wa.s going hack because oi the had access. At present cream had lu be carted across mudflats only workable at certain stage-- ul the lide. This pieVented the .-etileis from competing with lilt' remainder of the distrii I. All that was wauled was the formation of the n.'.i.l between Riwaka and Kaileriteri which would connect up two miles of already formed road and the SandyBay bridle track which only required Wl.lemi;;;.

Mr i). t . Wilkinson pointed out that the load asked for would eventually he i on! iniied right round ihe eoasi to Takaka. The VVaiinea County Council intended in a.-k the Oovenimeni for a vote to be expended annuallv. sav £IOOO per year. It could be Used for supplying work to some of the unemployed. !i would not com very much to put the mad right through'. Air Martin had asked for the first section only, which would est about JJI2OO. Air Hudson said that some settlers had aciualh left the district because of the had access.

Mr Eve.en ll'hairjnan of the \h.uieka Harbour Board) said he was very familiar with the district and the road lindei disvnssiun was a portion of the i nly |it act ii ai rou! e along Ihe eoasl. Il was only fan that the Voad should Input in.

Mr McLeod staled thai the question concerned the Minister of Puhlic Works whom the speaker was certain, felt the desirability ol giving access to men on tin- laud. However, in these i.-ises a great deal of responsibility rested on ilii local bodies. Many votes ha.l been put on ihe estimates through the cxerci.se of special influence. Some of these works were nol of ihe greatest urgency. The present system of allocating the (Jovernnienl money available where u was most urgently lequired was a great improvement and obviated any charges of the votes being pill on lor poiitieal purposes. The speaker w.ndd place the deputation's iepresenfal ions before the Minister of Public Works. At the same time he could assure tho.-v present that the Minister r>i Public Works would visit the distii.t m person before the coming Session

OTHER MATTERS Mr Harvey, Chairman of the lliwaka branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, brought forward several matters. One was the ear-marking of sheep. A great number of stray sheep were brought into the various shearing sheds each year, and it was impossible to trace theii ownership. The speaker asked that a copy of the ear marks be sup. plied from Nelson for pasting up in the shed.- to enable the sheep to be traced. Mr Ryder dealt with the trouble caused to settlers owning laud adjoining abandoned areas. Fern and second growth on the abandoned farms made the. adjoining owners afraid to burn e.i|'f their own places. Also the fences should he kept in repair where abandoned farms were let for grazing to pre-

vent the grazing stock from wanderim <ri■ to adjoining properties. Mr Staple.", tin owner of land adjoin ing an abandoned farm, said that a fin oii _''ie abandoned area would have destri'ved about half a mile of fcucinj.

which' he would have had In replace The danger from this source was vcrv great. As an indication of what bap pened to some of the abandoned land Mr Staples said that one area along

side him did ti<.l now . ouiain enough era-- In leed one shivp l.'i a day, .\l one l ime lhe same laud used to , arrv 1000 sheep. The Minister -aid that in his opinion if these areas i-niild ni>i be solil (hen the .ggres.-ii.iou of 1.. i I pivverdej the Deoirtm-i.l from d0.11,>, vvji,,! the> v\ inted with iv.i.tw d (!:> /oirrJ-ji::' i lon- iV-vcrtbCiVss - great d ! i. I been done i.i New Zealand Mreu-.iv One ..: hi- mam objects in touring " Net Zealand was lo have these abandoned area- pointed lull lo lute. II:.- op;:: ion was ;hat if these lauds , mild 11m he oi cttpied then ihev should be dei lai ed ( rown Lands. He w. aid give the local position his attention.

Willi regard to the question of earmarks, mentioned above, the Ministe; --aid a solution was difficult Any legislative scheme fin ear-marking meant interference with the present mark-, which would be very much resented by the farmers them.-elve- About 90 pel cent, oi the earmarks in New Zealand '■vere in a g0i..l condition and the oihei 10 per i-i ill. vll ■■ in a had way.

Mi 0. ('. W.ikiiM.ti. hi reference In grasp seed, said he was the le: -tv of 11 large Crown area in Riwaka, and this year clean burns had been obtained in that district. Many of the settlers, in eluding the speaker, wee unable to finance re-grassing the burnt area-, which in two years' tune would be t) reef high in fern. The speaker said that his land was not paying rein and all his l work did was to provide monev for ihe Slate Advames Office. lie bad now given the Lauds Department notice 10 resume the land unless money for grass seed was foi tlicoining. The double was that a man losl his laud and then found ii offered te someone else shortly afterwards at half the figure the original occupier bad paid and on conditions midei which 'it could he profitahlv worked.

The Minister said the question would be quite simple if the claims could be confined to genuine deteriorated lands. .Money was being asked for where the trouble was only bad farming. It was not fair that the country as a whole should have to pay for bad farming. The .Minister related the history of the grass seed relief fund as he did at Mnrchison on Wednesday. A farmer should not burn off his laud if he kne*' he could not provide grass seed. Such e.-i-es did not come under ihe relief fund, but should he inquired into by the State Advances Oliice with a view in making a further advance for seed in

order to improve the. security. But if the St.,:. Advances Department had 1.1 keep a watch on all the properly 011 which it lent money then ii could not afford In lend monev ai the present low late. Mr Mcl.cod said he would go into the matter with the State Advances I).--partinenl on his return to Wellington.

The .Mayor of Motueka thanked ihi Minister for hearing the deputations. He was sure the Minister did all he could foi the district.