LAND FOR RETURNED SOLDIERS.

Free Lance, Volume XVI, Issue 847, 29 September 1916, Page 6

LAND FOR RETURNED SOLDIERS.

, The Village Settlement Scheme.

THIRTY years . ago, when the Ballance Government established vil- ; lage settlements few were really their failure being due to various ■ circumstaoaees, into which we need not go. To-day, however, conditions are more favourable to village settlements, and we are glad to notice that the Hon. G. W. Russell is advocating the establishment of such settlements for the benefit of returned soldiers who may desire to go on the land, but have not capital sufficient to stock and farm a holding of, say, 200 to 300 acres. It seems to 'us that village settlements, if the land, be of fairly good quality and reasonably close to a centre of population, afford a workable solution of_the problem of providing employment for the returned soldiers. If a man has a small area of land upon which to live, and which he can leave at suitable seasons to do work for others who are farming larger areas, he should be reasonably sure of a decent home and a fair living. ,<•'.'

What is more, and this is,a matter ofsome importance, his children brought

up upon the laaid, are far more likely to have a desire of country life than if they were brought'xxp in some crowded city street. Mr. Russell suggests that the. scheme be given a trial—in Canterbury—and he promised, on behalf of the War Council, that if established by local efforts the trial settlement shall be subsidised. This is good so far as it goes, but we cannot help thinking that it is the first duty of the State to go thoroughly into-tiro pros and cons of the scheme and when, if considered workable, it should be adopted by. the Government and put into operation not only in Canterbury but all over the Dominion. The organisation of. a series of village settlements for returned soldiers is not so much a matter for local bodies but for the Lands and Defence Departments in co-operation.