LAND FOR SOLDIERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16876, 14 June 1918, Page 7

LAND FOR SOLDIERS.

PROBLEMS OF SETTLEMENT. MILLIONS OF IDLE ACRES. BY OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER. No. 11. One of the latest statements made by the Prime Minister regarding soldier settlements was to the effect that, up to March 19 of this year, 634 discharged soldiers have taken up land under the special legislation dealing with this subject, and that the total area of their holdings was 47,207 j acres, or an average of 660 acres per man. j The aim of the Government, said the Prime Minister, is to put at least 5000 soldiers on the land. Neither the number of men already put on to land nor the number which the Government expects to j place upon the land suggests in any way j that the State is doing its duty in this direction, oi that it is even taking sufficient interest in what is a very important State problem. To induce only 634 active young men out of nearly 19.000 to take up; farming shows plainly that something is wrong with land settlement matters. In j a report dealing with the occupations of; officers and men of the New Zealand Ex- j peditionary Forces at a time when only i 77.283 had been classified, it was shown] that out of this number no fewer than i 18,396 were farmers and farm labourers, and i that no fewer than 11.091 were classed as: labourers. Thus nearly 30,000 were men i with a practical knowledge of farming and ■ farm work, or were of a class accustomed to manual labour and. therefore, of a material from which farmers could be | made. If we accept those figures as showing anything like the proportion of occupation among the present number of men | mobilised and likely to be mobilised, we shall have a total of at least 50,000 men : who are capable of becoming farmers and | farm workers. To aim at providing only j one-tenth of these men with land, when I there are millions of acres of land lying j idle in the Dominion, is not an ambitious ideal it is not even a practical or com ] -sense ideal. New Zealanders must | not allow such a paltry attempt to meet j the situation to be continued. We must recognise that the financial stability and j the future prosperity of the Dominion j depend absolutely upon a very large increase in land settlement, and a tremendous expansion in wealth production. The Drift to Cities. Even before the war. New Zealand, owing to its discouragement of land settlement, was reaching a perilous condition because its city and urban population was increasing at a faster rate than its primary producers or its agricultural workers. The latest census statistics showed that in 1916 there were over 80.000 more people living within city and urban areas than in the rural districts, and a study of previous census returns shows that this drift from the country to the city was being accelerated with each decade. New Zealand is so essentially an agricultural country and depends so en- j tirely upon land product* for its wealth : and advancement that no thinking person can view this state of things without. ■ alarm. Curiously enough an increase of j city population in the early days of the colony would not have been anything like so dangerous as it is now.- In those days New- Zealand had practically no market overseas for any of its agricultural products, save wool, wheat, hides and pelts. or for such products as I could he carried as ordinary cargo, and the older class of politician recognised that, owing to its isolation. New Zealand farmers must depend to a large extent on the local markets for their most valuable and perishable products. This was why a serious attempt was made to stimu- j late manufactories and industries by pro- j tective duties and bounties. To encourage farming it was essential that there must ! be an increase in local consumption. At that time, too, there was such a wholesale drop in the values of such agricultural goods as New Zealand could ship overseas that there was stagnation everywhere, and the threat' of financial ruin. But the invention of the refrigeration process altered the whole aspect. This process enabled us to ship to any part of the world butter, cheese, meat," fruit, and all the more valuable foodstuffs which can be raised to such perfection in this country. Moreover, since the invention of the refrigeration process the rapid growth of industrial populations in the Old World, and in America, created such a demand for foodstuffs as had never before been known, and with this demand came as a natural sequence an enormous increase in food prices. So great was the change in this respect that it would have paid New Zealand handsomely to have devoted all its energies to the raising of foodstuffs and to have encouraged all its workers to turn farmers. The difference between the price which we could obtain for our agricultural products and the price for which we could buy manufactured articles overseas was altogether in our favour, and if we had possessed statesmen wise enough to have taken advantage of this state of things we should have witnessed an era of close settlement and of prosperity unrivalled in almost any country's history. Instead of this, we saw vast areas of Crown and native lands held idle through faulty legislation ; we saw great agricultural districts handicapped through lack of roads and railways; and we saw settlement hampered everywhere through want of surveyors, and still more through want of capital. The Production of Wealth. If it was considered important in the earlier days of the colony to increase local markets for farmers by encouraging the expansion of our industrial population, it is certainly important to-day that the local markets for our industrialists should be increased by encouraging the expansion of farming. The farmer is the only real customer for goods manufactured in New Zealand ; he is the real supporter of all local trades and industries and professions, because he is the most numerous still of all classes, and because he produces vastly ore wealth than all other classes put together. This i 3 why it is so necessary that New Zealand's farming population should continue to increase at a greater rate than city population. Multiply the farmer.?, and there is at once a greater demand for machinery and implements, for boots and clothes, for furniture and for everything else made by the city workers, "Hiis is why the artisan and the merchant, the professional men and the manufacturers, she' '' mopor. the opening of new lands s'.ir .v. i -.lenient , and should advocate the extension of road» and rai.w.cyv! In the country, even if they have to be content vvitn very plain metropolis ir stations and comparatively cheap public buildings. If too country districts are roaded and railvityea, if tha count)--, lands arr settled and worked; Shi cities and town:- must automatical:)- grow -n size and irn>«-: <.aj;< ~_ if agriculture flour'.-hrs. the trade of the whole country prosper*! ; this la whv the business men of the nation should always give their active support to legislation and public expenditure which encourages the close settlement of rural districts and increased production of all farms. Three Classes of Idle Land. There die. three classes of land which require f.'-ong !ew legislation liefore they can be properly -."tied and fully ntHised. The first is r.he .dl- Crown lands, skisecond the idle .\i-.oti !;>M..i, and the third the idle lands held by private individuals, by public bodies, and as optional endowments. Contrary to general belief the idle j Crown lands of New Zealand are still extensive. Out of the total area of the Dominion, which is roughly 66,000,000 j acres, only 42,709,337 acres are occupied, even in the widest and lowest sense. This i leaves a balance of over 23.000,000 acres, which, excluding rives, lakes, mountains, I roads, and boroughs, is still an important field for settlement. But it is in its capacity as landlord that the State has the greatest opportunity for increasing settlement and production. Out of the 66,000,000 acres in 'New Zealand private individuals own only 17,727,647, the State, the Maoris, and public institutions own the balance of nearly 50,000,000 acres. Out of the total area of 42,709,337 acres in occupation no less than 19.580,413 acres are leased from the Crown, 3,452,303 acres

are leased from public bodies and various institutions, and 1,942,778 acres leased from natives. What scope there is for closer settlement in these areas can only be realised by studying the size of the holdings. Twenty-one occupiers hold no less than 1,170,716 acres, 28 occupiers hold 683,668 acres, no less than 3,966,195 acres are held in areas of between 2000 and 5000 acres, and over 2,000,000 acres are held in areas of from 5000 to 10,000 acres. Only 3,457,551 acres are held as small farms, that is under 320 acres, and only 2,422,803 acre* are held in farms between 320 and 640 acres, so there is definite .proof that I there still remains in New Zealand J enormous scope for subdivision. I i More Productive Farming. The possibilities for increased production under more intensive cultivation are as striking as through the utilisation of idle lands. Out of the 66.000,000 acres ,in the Dominion only 17.061,675 acres are cultivated in the most, primitive sense, nearly 15.000,000 acres being in pasture, principally surface sown, whilst little more than 2.000.000 acres are under grain and root crops, orchards, vineyards, gardens, and nurseries. These fig'ures illustrate most forcibly the fact that 1 " New Zealand is still largely in the pioneer stage, so far as farming is concerned, and prove that under more intensive methods the output of agricultural wealth in the Dominion could jbe multiplied almost indefinitely. Every j public man in New Zealand should take I these statistics into his memory, and use j them as a force to stimulate him in the I duty of bringing about an era of great and I rapid national development. They go to I prove that we have still room in this counI try for millions of new people, with every 1 opportunity of increasing the national i wealth in such a manner that it will bene- ' fit not merely a. handful of landlords in the I shape of the State, the Maoris, or private individuals, but will give to thousands of I working farmers and others assisting in i the real development of the country a due j reward for their labour and opportunity to | lead healthy, prosperous, and useful lives. I Beyond this will ho the benefit to the inj dustrial and commercial populations. j through a great increase in local markets | and local consumption, and beyond this I the benefit to the State from a revenue and i defensive point of view.