THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY. JUNE 5, 1919. THE OUTSTANDING ISSUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17179, 5 June 1919, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY. JUNE 5, 1919. THE OUTSTANDING ISSUE.

The overwhelming importance of land settlement is so fully recognised and so explicitly presented in the circular issued by the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association that for this reason alone the statement is worthy of the widest publicity and the most careful study. The association is perfectly justified in describing settlement as the j outstanding issue in New Zealand to-day. ft is the easiest, safest, and surest way of obtaining that increase in production which has become an economic necessity to the State. Under an enlightened land j policy rural occupations could be j made so pleasant as well as profit-j able that they would attract the majority of able-bodied men in the

Dominion. Unfortunately the pre i Sent settlement policy is ncithe ! enlightened nor enterprising, ami i a is impossible to escape the concln sion reached by the Returned Sol titers' Association that the Govern c j!iient has failed to take advantage of n unique opportunity. Its wholi i attitude to the question has beet utterly wrong and short-sighted • Ministers have spoken .is if lam settlement as a branch of repatriation 'tion was devised to discharge a deb e " of honour to the men who hav< J fought, forgetful that the grcates £ ! gain resulting from every increasi l j in production accrues to the State g i It is right to -rive soldiers preference in land ballots, as in every form o J employment and economic better a 1 ment, but it is fallacious to suppost that the advantages arc not recip > vocal. A Ministry which under stood the business of government - would find in the demobilisation o i armies a rare opportunity of bring ing Xew Zealand within a few yean tc the standard of production sh< i would not otherwise have reachec j for several decades. It would maki haste to place on the land not onlj I the soldiers who asked for farms, but all the returned men who could • be interested in the primary indus tries by propaganda or by easy conditions of settlement. It would then proceed to arouse enthusiasm for settlement among the civilian population, and would invite emigrants from Britain to come and occupy the spaces in the Dominion that were still left empty. The Government has done none of those things. It has placed only 2.7 per cent, of the returned men on the land, a proportion which in a fertile and undeveloped country like New Zealand is ominously small. It has done this in the manner least stimulating to production, namely by the subdivision of estates already under cultivation, and now it has apparently reached the end of its resources. The cost of settling soldiers in large numbers in this I fashion is obviously too great to be j borne, and the far cheaper and more effective method of providing j virgin land at a low price is apparently impracticable because- of lack of road and railway approaches to the Crown and native blocks. The difficulty has come to be a public works one, and it can only be solved by an intelligent distribution of the available man-power, as suggested I by the Returned Soldiers' Association. At the present moment Xew ! Zealand is making very poor use of ;ts man-power. Able-bodied men who desire to become farmers are growing weary of the obstruction of the Lands Department, and are. returning to the cities to compete for I edentary employment. The unI popularity of public works does not i diminish, and new roads and raili ways and the reorganisations j planned by the, Working Railways | Department are retarded by lack of I labour. The position at the moment lis that the attractions of town life are preventing public works being .fully manned, and the stagnation of , public works is making it impossible for men who would leave the | cities if they could to obtain farm:. I The problem is not insoluble ; indeed I the mere statement of it suggests a remedy. Public works must be popularised, if other means fail, then by exploiting the land hunger of soldiers and civilians in their favour. The earnest land seeker will not be deterred by 'he necessity - of making a railway or a road through the , block where his subdivision lies. If tthe need is put before him fully and dispassionately he will be willing to i work on the road or railway til! it provides the communication without which his section is valueless, The co-ordination of public works and j (land settlement policy will go ai .long way to relieve t'li" shortage of ; man-power at the vital points of i I Xew Zealand's industrial front. | ] For the fuller supply of labour ! which may profitably be employed! on public works (lie Dominion will! probably have to look to immigral lion. Th" number of able bodied I men in the country is insufficient , even for pre-war needs. For the : work that lies to hand if production i is to be expanded if clearly requires reinforcement. The Returned Sol-! diers' Association points out that i New Zealand has lost 16.000 men j during the war. while the loss of' labour due to incapacitation and | sickness may be assessed at 13,111)0. It might have added that immigration has been virtually suspended for more than three year;, and several thousands of both sexes have! fliiH been prevented from entering the country. It is well within the mark to say th.it the effective able-' bodied population is 10,000 less than it would have been had there been 110 war. while the task confronting; it has increased indefinitely. it | is the duty of the eminent, in ' !!''■ light of I'■«•»* f ;1: ., . lii ,],.,,,,.. mine whether that i'\p;iu-ion of in- ; li "-! | > to '•Inch all look forward is possible without the immigration of selected men for public works. On one thing the country is resolved.

A remedy for the virtual suspension of road, and railway .construction

must, be fount! quickly. Sir William Fraser may be content to wait till all other employments are filled an 1 men drift to the neglected publicworks. The public can afford to exhibit no such complacency. It has too keen a sense of its financial responsibilities to countenance procrastination. A remedy must be found and applied immediately.