LAND FOR SOLDIERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17234, 9 August 1919, Page 11

LAND FOR SOLDIERS.

GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE. REVIEW . BY ME. MASBEY. If SW ZEALAND'S EXAMPLE. fnr TELEGRAPH.— association.] WELLINGTON, Friday. The- following summary, showing the position of soldier settlement as at''June 30 last, waa given by the Prime Minister, t» c Right Hon. W. F. Masse?, to-day.— ' Total number of soldier settlers assisted financially, 5821.

Number of soldiers settled trader the

Total area held, 39,522 acres. Area available for immediate selection, fir... holdings, and runs, 106,022 acres. ST-iall farms for poultry -raising, etc, 1)90 acres.

Number of applications in regard to houses approved, 1165. Number of application? under consideration, 638. Commenting on the figures, Mr. Massey Mid he was delighted that so much had I .-en done in the settlement of returned soldiers, on the land. While he had been away from New Zealand he made it his business 10 inquire what was being done in other parts of the Empire. He was satisfied there was no other part of the Empire, with the exception of Canada, that had done anything like so much in the settlement of soldiers as had been done in this country. Canada had been followins closely in the footsteps of New Zealand. He had a long talk on the subject wu,h the Minister in charge of Repatriation in Canada, who said he had been obtaming copies of all th» New -iealand proposals in awwmection with the settlement d soldiers- One advantage Canada had • ver us was that it had land to give, and land that would grow wheat. That made it possible for the soldier to get a crop from his land at the first ploughing, which -• us an advantage to the new settler. NORTH AUCKLAND AREAS. RUSH OF APPLICATIONS. i f sEE BOARD'S HEAVY TASK. The North Auckland Lazed Board continued its fitting yesterday, and was emgaged throughout the day dealing with applications from discharged soldiers for financial assistance in the purchase of farms and residential properties. The work of the Board is now extremely heavy, owing to the increasing number of soldier applicants. The order paper for the sitting which commenced on Wednesday, contained 114 soldier applications, with an additional SO on the supplementary list. » When first constituted the Board held regular meetings monthly, but the business to be dealt with grew to rapidly as the result of applications by prospective soldier settlers that it was found necessary to hold fortnightly special meetings is addition to the ordinary meetings. The commissioner, Mr. Ik P. Greville, stated yesterday that the pressure of this work was now such that it almost required the attention cf a special board. The board, which had to deal with other land matters, found, it almost impossible to cope with the steady stream of. soldier applications, despite the additional wee-tings, and he Itoutid that "this class of work took up nearly all his own time. Three officers gave their undivided attention to soldier applications, arranging for the necessary valuations and conducting the correspondence necessary for sneb. transactions. The - commissioner mentioned that at first the board -jwas able to put through its business at the monthly meeting in less .than one full day, whereas the sittings now invariably ran into two and three days each fortnight, the last three meetings having occupied an aggregate of seven days. One member remarked that it was difficult to get the t Departmental officers in Wellington to realise the enormous increase which had taken place in the work of the board, and while the files of the, various transactions would show tliat there was no undue delay in dealing with soldier applications, they 'were rapidly approaching the point when either he Crown Lands business or the soldiers' applications would have to suffer. - The board will meet again this morning to deal with the remainder of the order paper. PROTEST fSOM MORSZHS^ILLE. ■# CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT. [BY TStEGBAi'H.—OWS OOBSESFOITDEST.J . MOREINSvTLLB, Friday. Several resolutions, strongly' protesting against t**3 action of the Government in settling soldiers on the land without making adequate provision for roading facilities, failing to expedite the financing of soldier settlers in cases of approved sales, and in refusing to settle soldiers on land on which were one or two kanri trees," were passed at yesterday's meeting of the Thames Va'ley subprovincial executive of the Farmers' TTnion. It was stated that soldiers had waited eight months for money with which to complete purchases of land that application for the purchase of 1000 skcres at Hikutaia had been refused to a soldier because there were two kauri trees on the property. QLADBKOOK ESTATE OPEHEB. OVER 1000 APPLICATIONS MADE. [BY TEXXGBJVPS. —PBES3 ASSOCIATION. ] DUNEDIN, Friday. Five subdivisions of the Gladbronk Estate, near Middlemarsh, were opened for selection by returned soldiers to-day. The land/ was opened on pastoral license, and the aseaji rangfj from 8913 acres to 8154 a-rres, and the rentals vary from £35 to UicH half-yearly, Applications have been iftceived from Auckland, Hawke'a Bay, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Altogether 287 persons applied, the total applications numbering 10x1. After ihe examination of the applicants on. Tuesday a ballot will be held.