IDLE LAND

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 12 March 1930, Page 6

IDLE LAND

ON WEST COAST SUITABLE FOR DAIRYING ROOM FOR HUNDREDS OF FAMILIES (By Telegraph—Special to "The Mail”) CHRISTCHURCH, lltli March. That there is sufficient good land available for development on the West Coast, particularly in South Westland, to give employment and sustenance to hundreds of families, thus relieving very considerably the unemployment problem, was (lie opinion expressed to a reporter to-day by Mr G. Penliugton, architect to the Canterbury Education Board, who has just returned from a tour of the district. Mr Penliugton made it clear, however, that a good motor road would have to be formed before this land could he opened up. “The land in tho vicinity of Fox glacier is probably an exception to most of the land on the Coast,” said Mr Pen lington. “There are thousands of acres of beautiful country there that one would expect to be better developed. One would expect to seo cheese or butter factories there at least. The same pro-1 bably applies to more than one locality on the Coast and I should say that this country would be capable of carrying a fair population, providing that a good motor road were formed. It seems to me to he a great pity that the Main Highways Board does not get on with this road faster, and bridge tits si t eams and rivers.

“For the most part the methods of farming employed there seemed to me to be most inadequate. The country is eminently suited to either dairying or the raising of cattle, and there is no doubt that a great deal more comet be done with it. I must say, though, that the quality of'the cattle was ail that could be desired. The stock generally was in excellent condition all cite way down the Coast. There is ample space there for a large number of unemployed if the Government could see its v.ay clear to form a motor road and cut up blocks of land to suit settler.-. This would undoubtedly go a very long way toward the solving of the unemployment problem and in increasing the production of the country. So far ns I- could see unemployment troubles the Coast very little, and there is any amount of scope for a man with some initiative to earn a good living over there.”