THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1926. MINISTER AND CRITICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19458, 14 October 1926, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1926. MINISTER AND CRITICS.

The Minister of Lands set out last evening to answer criticisms that have been levelled against himself and his department for failure to carry out their duty of fostering settlement and especially of making unoccupied land available for those wanting it. Mr. McLeod devoted some time to the things the Herald has said on the subject. A brief sur vey will show how far he has succeeded in his self-imposed task, and what prospect he offers of replying to criticism by deeds, not words. A reference in yesterday's Herald to the Empire settlement scheme seems to have puzzled him, so he asks for an explanation of "what the offer of the Empire Settlement Committee is." It is strange that a Minister of the Crown should need to ask for this information, though Mr. McLeod's apparent ignorance explains, perhaps, many things about his policy and present attitude. The Empire Settlement Committee makes no offer. There is as part of the law of Great Britain an Empire Settlement Act, passed in 1922. It empowered the expenditure annually, for 15 years, of £3,000,000 in Empire settlement and development. Mr. McLeod should not overiook the second objectivo. .Of the sum, £1,000,000 is earmarked for assistance in passage money. New Zealand is party to an agreement by which benefit is gained from this. The remainder, £2,000,000 a year, is for assistance in land settlement and development. New Zealand has made no attempt to secure any part of it, though other Dominions have not been so backward. Mr. Amery, Secretary of State for the Colonies, when the Act became law, said specifically : "It is not proposed that the Imperial Government shall provide funds unless the Dominions are prepared to do their part." That is why New Zealand gets none of the money. The attitude of Mr. McLeod helps to supply the reason why it does not.

The Minister having been enlightened as requested, it is now possible to consider his arguments. He says the country was not settled by unemployment relief. Perfectly true, and it never will be ; but if some energy is shown in settling it further, the need for unemployment relief will substantially disappear. Next Mr. McLeod chooses to interpret the advocacy of land settlement as a campaign to secure the expenditure of borrowed money in the Auckland Province. Certainly any such advocacy must refer to the province, for it contains the largest area calling i'or development; but the majority of Mr. McLeod's critics, certainly the Herald, would be delighted to see him showing signs of doing something in any part of New Zealand, as a variant of his present practice of offering excuses for doing nothing anywhere. Following that, the Minister presents the only grain of constructive policy his reply contains. He foreshadows legislation by which men owning more land than they can profitably work, yet prevented by financial liabilities from subdividing, will be helped to dispose of their surplus in the interests of closer settlement. This is sound, reasonable and hopeful. The sooner he starts on the execution of his idea the better. Froir this, Mr. McLeod proceeds to discuss the circumstances which faced him when he first assumed his port' folio, the effects of the boom in primary products, and the consequent inflation of land values. Those facts arc generally known, and nobody will dispute them. He was not responsible for the policy which contributed so largely to the inflation, and has no need to dissociate himself from it. He then says he considered three alternatives, first to endeavour, so far as possible, to retain on the land those already there and in difficulties, second "to purchase land for settlement, and thus to some extent prevent wholesale deflation," and third to sottle those requiring land on areas as yet unoccupied. On these he enlarges as the rest of his answer to criticism. The first objective is unexceptionable. Much effort has been expended on it, and much money utilised, either directly in advances or indirectly by writing off liabilities. It has been done to good purpose, No reasonable objection can be raised. The second proposal is frankly remarkable. The worst thing about it is that the Minister has pursued it to some extent. The State purchase of land as a preventive of deflation is surely the most extraordinary suggestion a responsible Minister has ever made. Elsewhere he contends that caution must be shown in development work for fear of increasing the public debt too fast. Yet he has purchased estates, thereby increasing the debt, however he, paid for them, and it now appears his idea has been to postpone deflation of land values. That is to say, certain favoured individuals have been allowed to quit their estates at inflated prices, and the rest have been left to see the inevitable and salutary process of deflation postponed. Everybody knew land-buying by the Minister must produce this result, but few conceivably imagined this was his set purpose in such transactions as his recent purchase in the Gisborne district. It was perfectly apparent on the reported facts of the sale that little closer settlement would result. When asked how he justified his act from this aspect, the Minister's reply was feeblo in the extreme. Now the true explanation appears. It. is

apparently with such misconceived notions in his mind that Mr. McLeod places last, and systematically neglects, the third idea, that of settling unoccupied land. It is no use his talking about the cost of it when he is prepared to use State funds for the purpose which he places before it. He set out to answer his critics. He failed to do so to any extent. Instead, he revealed himself as regarding the immediate problems of his office in a way that no previous Minister has ever confessed to, surely, in the history of the department. Until he rids himself of such notions, realises that the development of the Dominion's unused assets is a task of which the country cannot afford to brook neglect, and concentrates his energies on it, he will be the target of such criticisms as those he handled to such poor effect last evening.