SETTLING THE SOLDIER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17753, 12 April 1921, Page 4

SETTLING THE SOLDIER.

DEPARTMENT'S ACTIVITIES. FARMS FOR 8757 MEN. FURTHER AREAS AVAILABLE, [BY TELEGRAPH. OWN CORRESPONT>E;«r.I WELLINGTON. Mondsj. The latest return showing the operations of the soldier settlement scheme records that 8787 men have been settled on the land and 9200 men have been assisted to purchase or erect town dwellings. The area of land occupied by the soldier farmers is 2,783.521 acres. The number of soldier sections that had been offered and not taken up at the end of March was 363. These sections, w *i), a total r.rea of 183.821 acres, are becoming available for civilian settlement under the decision recently announced by the Minister for Lands. The new rule is that section* for which soldiers h;.ve not applied will ba held for a few weeks after the ballota and then if no soldier applicants have come forward they will be offered to civilians. The land to be offered to soldiers during the month of April comprises 38 sections with a total area of 13.254 acres. The land available for future subdivision amounts to 504,663 acres. More than half of thus land—a total of 285,365 arr«^—is in the Otago Land District. Other areas included in the total of 504.663 acres are :—North Auckland 47.212 acres, Auckland 43.132 acres. Hawke's Bay '1.246 acres. Taranaki 18.200 a/res. ton 7552 acres. Nelsr>n 39.774 a,~res. fanterbury 21.200 acres, Southland 482 acres. The Lands Department reports that an area of 406,046 acres—93.926 acres i_u the North Island and 312.120 ares in the South Island—is available for ordinarx civilian settlement. It comprises chiefly rough bush land or small lots not considered to be capable of affording a comfortable living to a discharged eoidier.