THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1309. IMPROVED SETTLEMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14110, 12 July 1909, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1309. IMPROVED SETTLEMENTS.

There can be no objection whatever to the opening of 400 or of 4000 holdings of the improved farm settlement class, but we arc amazed that Mr. Buddo should expect us to think that by so doing he is solving the unemployed problem or really touching the land question. To take three or four hundred men, without capital, in the three great provinces of Auckland, Wellington, and Taranaki, and to employ them under State , supervision in clearing and grassing small areas of land, which they will subsequently tenant upon short-term leases, is a weful admission of administrative! incompetence. The improved farm settlement scheme in itself, and as an extension of the optional system with which it was originally associated, - has much to commend it, provided always that it is kept as part of an intelligible and discriminating system of land settlement. In the J very nature of things there are men who/from a variety of reasons, are not able to immediately avail themselves of the optional system, and who are too old or too handicapped by family obligations to wait for | better opportunity. To these men I the improved farm settlement scheme was a blessing, * though as long as the optional system was generally available it does not appear to have been especially popular. The true land-settler always prefers to work in his own way and at his own risk, and to be exempt from the inquisitions and interferences of rangers and inspectors. He also has a passion for holding his own land, an instinctive longing to feel that he is owner and master of that part of the earth which, by his own exertions, he has turned from wilderness into farm. But this appears to be beyond the mental grasp of Mr. _Buddo, as it is beyond the mental grasp of every other man who has lost the faculty of understanding the agricultural attitude to the land. Instead of opening the bush to the settlers who arc streaming away from the Dominion by every steamer; instead of inciting them to play their part in the building up of this young country, and to take their reward in ' the equitable manner provided by the law;? of the country ; instead of providing employment for everybody by the simple process of opening a Million Acres, and thus inspiring every industry with renewed energy, Mr. Buddo has decided to open 400 improvement farm settlement holdings as 'soon as the land can be surveyed. Fortunately for the unemployed of our cities, this scheme will not be in. operation until the coming of Spring has absorbed all surplus labour. There is thus less probability of it being rushed by men driven to it by. the wolves of want and destitution, and more prospect of it being taken advantage of by men who- may use it to do some good for themselves and for the Dominion. Obviously it cannot affect the present unemployed difficulty to any extent, nor docs the paltry 40,000 acres involved j affect land settlement. Yet it is- ap-1 parent that Mr. Buddo concaves himself to be energetically discharging the functions of a Minister for Lands. • . '

As everybody in the country must know, if they have a modicum of common sense, the v , overwhelming 1 ■■ '-'■ r

bulk of the unemployed are quite incapable of successful land settlement. Even physical strength and hardihood do not of themselves qualify a successful settler, for there are thousands of men working at mining, at bushfelling, at railway construction,; and at other arduous toilings, who have not the patience or the self-sufficiency to settle down upon the land. This makes it all the more necessary and desirable that reasonable opportunity shall be given, all the time, to the true settler class; and that no attempt shall be made to make land-settle-ment the only resort for men who will snatch at any opportunity while temporarily desperate. Settlement should never be the casual remedy for passing difficulties ; it should be the persistent work of., a progressive and permanent policy, It ought to De possible in New Zealand, as long is any block of land remains unoccupied and unused, for any capable settler with sufficient capital and sufficient courage, to obtain a holding under the optional tenure. But it has become impossible to do so, and it is becoming more and more mpossible every year. Hundreds of men are leaving the Dominion to look for land in other parts of the world. Thousands of optional holdings arc uusurveyed and unallotted which would be now occupied and productive had the Government done ts duty. Hundreds of thousands of acres are growing nothing but noxious weeds which might easily be growing meat and butter and making profitable employment for city workers. Taxes are increasing, ;he finances are troubling us, employment is slack, yet no adequate attempt is made to tap the locked-up lands and to release from them the incalculable wealth which would transform the situation. Mr. Buddo las assured us that 195,000 acres will be opened in July; but it turns out that over 160,000 acres are rough sheep country, and that much of ihe rest is inferior. Now Mr. Buddo assures us that the Government is determined upon a vigorous settlement policy to absorb the unem-! ployed, and promises 400 unimproved 'arm settlement holdings, "as soon as matters can be arranged." This s only throwing dust into the eyes of the public, and thereby staving off the final solution. The opening of a few mountain tops upon pastoral lease is not settlement ; nor are the surveying of a few improved farm foldings, nor the offer of leaseholds .aider Maori landlords. What is wanted is the opening of at least a Million Acres under optional, tenure, so that the settlers who want freelold, as well as the settlers who can pe induced to accept leasehold, may oe satisfied to remain in New Zeaand and not forced to emigrate, as they are emigrating now; and so :hat employment may be provided not :or a few despondent men at uncongenial settlement work, under State superintendence, but for every born settler under his own free guidance, and for.the thousands of men who, when prosperity is regained by increased production, will have abundant work at their own special avocation. And only when men work at si-hat they can do best can they obtain the high wages which are the surest evidence of civilisation and prosperity. ,