LAND SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19486, 16 November 1926, Page 14

LAND SETTLEMENT.

A DOMINION CONFERENCE. THE UNPRODUCTIVE AREAS. SCHEME TO WORK THE LAND. The land settlement conference to be held in the Town Hall concert chamber this evening will be attended, by over 70 persons. Sir Andrew Russell will preside, and delegates will be welcomed by the Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon. Among those to be present will be the Hon. A. IX McLeod, Minister of Lands, Mr. J. B. Thompson, Under-Secretary for Lands*, the Hon. 0. J. Hawk'en, Minister of Agriculture, Sir James Allen, Mr. W. Perry y president, and members of the Royal Agricultural Society, Mr. D. Jones, chairman, and members of the New Zealand Meat Control Board, presidents of the leading agricultural and pastoral associations of New Zealand, members of the executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, and many other representative men from every part of New' Zealand.-' The Hon. J. A. Young, Minister of Health, is also expected to attend. Comprehensive proposals for the profitable occupation of New Zealand's unproductive areas are contained in a lengthy, report forwarded to the council of* the Auckland Agricultural Society by Mr. A. Leigh Hunt, of Wellington. The report was sent to tlje Prime Minister in England for consideration, by the Imperial Conference. , Co-operation with Britain. Mr. Hunt proposes -that a New Zealand company should be formed to act as selling agent between holders of secoodolass lands and British investors. ;' The company would obtain options over what it considered sound propositions, prepare reliable data and submit the complete scheme to British, capitalists. . Before seeking, outside assistance the company's projects would be submitted to an honorary advisory board, which would act for the British investor and approve only those enterprises appealing to thejn as sound investments. It was hoped a number of British companies would then be Formed to purchase one or more projects, securing financial assistance under the' Empire Settlement Act. These bodies would provide capital' necessary to "break in" estates and would select their own migrants for the labour required. The British company would subdivide the estate for close settlement, after the breaking-in process was completed, and then dispose of its lands. Provision of Capital. Outlining the benefits he considers obvious under such a scheme, Mr. Hunt states that with such an organised immigration system no possible objection could be raised on the plea that a newcomer would displace an existing worker, from, his employment; Scientific immigration was provided for, and this could, only result in benefits to the country. Britain was willing to spend millions of pounds in a distribution of her surplus population, and he considered the Empire Settlement Act had not proved successful. An effective, method would be for the British Government to assist British companies 'in land . settlement schemes by guaranteeing their capitaL and a percentage Of their'interest for five years, similar to i the provisions of the Trade Facilities Act. This would ensure the successful flotation of such companies, and ease interest charges during the period occupied it? breaking in estates., An opportunity would also be afforded the immigrant of owning his own land after working on it under the direction of the eompahy for some years. The" New; Zealand Government would be required to remove the land-tax and local-rates on lands under development for, say,.five years. . Second-class Country. The report deals at length with the prospects of bringing in second-class lands, which could be divided into lands requiring irrigation, wet lands requiring drainage and pumice and gum areas calling for breaking in. Data supplied by the Government made it clear that such lands could be profitably treated pver a number of years, but that they wouldhave to be handled in large areas by orfanisations with adequate capital. It had een shown that the arid lands of Central Otago could .be made to support from four to five sheep an acre when irrigated, and it was considered the present unproductive area of 350,000 acreß could support 20,000 persons. Electric power at low rates was now available for the profitable draining of swamp country, most of which, when drained, provided rich dairying country. It was. safe to assume that of the 6,000,000 acres of, pumice land in the North Island, one-third, afforded excellent .prospects for the profitable application of capital. Afforestation was of prime importance and the pumice and gum lands of New Zealand offered prospects for timber raising equalled nowhere in the Empire. It was reasonable to anticipate that British Capital would be willing to undertake this enterprise on a large scale with-some financial guarantee or subsidy.