LAND SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19488, 18 November 1926, Page 10

LAND SETTLEMENT.

Sir,—ln the opinions which have been expressed regarding the problem of unsettled land there is one feature which is being neglected, and that is "roads." One of the most heart-breaking conditions attached to pioneer work iri the back blocks is isolation. It has been pointed out that if the domestic life of the farmer's wife received more attention, not so much would be heard of the difficulties which now prevent many men from taking their families out back, in districts where a woman can have no neighbours, where the children are deprived of playmates, wives often become mental wrecks and the children grow up as shy as wild creatures. In the days when transport was restricted to a horse conveyance a pioneer farmer who, even if he had a road of sorts, was' 50 miles away from , a township, might as well have been a thojisand miles out for all the chance his family would get of meeting their fellow-creatures. But now, with motors, given a passable summer road, 50 miles is a bagatelle. Unfortunately, when demands are made for roading facilities, the Government displays an empty exchequer and declares, it cannot raise the money. Bat if a * national crisis arises, it may bo a war or an epidemic, and the Government wants the moneymoney- is forthcoming. Now, in this country the scaindal of falling production, unoccupied lands, increased unemployment, • decline in trade, amounts to a national crisis, and it is the duty of the Government to find the funds to cope with the crisis. Money spent on wan or in fighting an epidemic, is unproductive expenditure. Money spent on roads would give employment to men on reproductive works and would bring a lot of the unsettled land into profitable occupation. It would be as well, therefore, since the Minister of Lands and officialdom have failed to grapple with . our national crisis, that the conference of private citizens now dealing with land settlement should devote some attention to the bearing which the provision of adequate roads has upon the problem of unsettled land. C. E. Archibald.

Sir,—lt remains to be seen what results, if any, will be achieved by the recent conference on this question, but it has $$ least shown that there is general recognition of the fact of the existence of a problem to be solved The large and representative gathering was proof of the recognition, and if proof is wanted of the actual existence of the problem, one has only to go out into the highways and byways to find ample evidence in the shape of abandoned farms and huge areas of undeveloped land. Various remedies were suggested: improved farming methods, improved social, medical and educational facilities, improved means of access, and so on. But there is one means of gauging the position which was entirely overlooked by the confer*.nee. It should not be forgotten that for v \ considerable period in the history of New Zealand land settlement was proceeding very satisfactorily and that without any artificial aid or encouragement. It is true that the remaining undeveloped lands are not on the average nearly so good as those already settled, but that does not give us any sufficient reason for the present position. Much of the land successfully settled in earlier days was not one whit better than a great deal that is at present available. Then we should be in a much better position to handle such land to-day than we wera at that time, for we have been learning our job and we have undoubtedly been improving our methods. We also have the benefit of very much improved implements and machinery. As to other facilities, they have been improved out of all knowledge But a great change has come over the scene and that change can be summed up in two words—high costs. Prices of what the farmer has to sell have gone up, say, 25 per cent., while prices of what he has to buy have gone up, say, 60 per cent. Improved methods have enabled him to carry a part of this load, but there is a margin, which he finds it impossible to carry if he is working on land on the margin of settlement. He has already abandoned a great deal that he formerly occupied and, naturally, he finds the breaking-in of new iand absolutely impossible. Now, how have those high costs come about ? They have come about because we have set up a system under which the law of supply and demand is eliminated for all industries, except those producing for export. When this system was first started its opponents contended that it was a defiance of a natural law and that it could not last. But it has lasted and simply because there was the great farming industries upon which all the costs of it could be piled. And those costs have kept piling on all the time, all the costs of maintaining industries which should never have been started, all the costs of inefficiency caused by the absence of competition and all the hundred and one artificially high costs and charges of every description. There is only one effective remedy. We must get back to natural conditions. We must gradually reduce our high tariff wall arid allow competition to operate in all industries in the same way as it must continue to do in the farming industries. No one need suffer if tho operation is judiciously performed. No one really gains by the present system. It is a huge and unmitigated loss which is slowly strangling the farming industry and has already mads impossible the settlement of our unoccupied lands. •A. A. Ros?.