LAND WITHOUT PEOPLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18556, 14 November 1923, Page 10

LAND WITHOUT PEOPLE.

... , —» OVER 7,000,000 ACRES. msr&y* ' ' ' " , '. , J - NEW ~ MIGRATION SCHEME. ' USE OF BRITISH CAPITAL. f :|no TAtATION FOR TERM. '[BT~ TELEGRATIT.— CORRESPONDENT.] f':'* WELLINGTON. Tuesday. ?■.:« That politicians, however earnest and sincere, are the wrong men to handle the immigration question in New Zealand, and that the placing of men on waste spaces here should be relegated to a conference of business men, is the claim of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, which today supported a scheme for the settlement of the 7,000,000 odd acres of land in the Dominion which at present, it was said was unoccupied and uncultivated. The scheme includes the purchase of a large area of land by a settlement company, which it is proposed will issue shares in which the immigrant..will invest and the selection of men with sufficient capital ~l qualifications, irrespective of whether they have relatives in the Dominion or not The matter will form one of the chief subjects of discussion at the conference of Chambers of Commerce in Auckland neict week. , Mr. Leigh Hunt, in speaking on the subject to-dav, said that it had been shown in the North that unproductive lands may be turned into productive lands. ' They had 6.000,000 acres of pumice lands in the North Island; 371,000 acres of lands that with irrigation may be occupied in Central Otago; and 800,000 acres of kauri sum lands at present waste—a total of 7.171,000, acres that could support life and add to the productiveness o? the Dominion. The scheme has the approval of the Empire Trade and Development Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and it M proposed to make a beginning next year on lines following the early successful New Zealand settlements. The committers report sav?: "It has become so customary for the* -ecple of this Dominion to look to the Government as the sole force in national affairs that to-day the great majority of people believe that any effort outside that of the State must necessarily ' be abortive and consequently futile. It is not suggested, says the report, that the State should cease activities, but tho prosent progress is totally inadequate, and a policy covering every contingency supplementary to the activities of the State is The "scheme provides for the acquisition of blocks of second and third class land capable of closer settlement; for legislation exempting such lands from taxation and local rates for from three to five years; and the offer of such lands for sale to British companies at market rates, • the companies to undertake to make the anas suitable for settlement, and to sell to British immigrants at prices which will "eld a return not exceeding 10 per cent.