DETERIORATED LANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19720, 20 August 1927, Page 12

DETERIORATED LANDS.

THE ACT IN OPERATION.' — ! HOPE FOR THE SETTLER. reduction of valuations. THE POSITION OF LOCAL BODIES. [by telegraph.—own correspondent.] KAWHIA, Friday. Ever since the .Deteriorated Lands Act became law, speculation has run rife as to its practical application throughout the King Country —the area principally affected by the measure. The earlier stages were slow and cautious. The Minister of Lands set up a commission of inquiry—committee, lie preferred to call it—to investigate the causes which had led to the deterioration or " gone back " condition of great areas of grazing country extending from the northern boundary of Kawhia county to the upper Wanganui and the reasons for their abandonment. Composed of practical men, their report covered a wide field of investigation, based mainly on the causes of the country's reversion to second growth and the reasons why so many settlers had forsaken their holdings. Exhaustive evidence was taken, disclosing a striking similarity of experience, and the conclusions of the commission and their recommendations were confirmed by the Minister himself after a personal inspection of the country. From the first it was soon evident that the prairie prize had been set on too high a scale, both for Crown and native lands. It was also plain that fence subdivisions and cattle were necessary to , keep the pasture lands in order. It .was further found that the best English grasses had a tendency to " run out," and no provision had been made to replace them with what are termed secondary grasses. Then the slump had come — rents were too high, cattle were unsaleable and unprofitable, a. diminishing income was reflected in falling fences and second growth reigned rampant. Such were the conditions when the commission opened its inquiry, and its principal duty was to stem the backwash and re-establish confidence and progress. That the task bristled with difficulties was at once recognised by everyone who understood the circumstances. The reduction of the upset price (or unimproved value) meant that the Crown was required to write off hundreds of thousands of pounds from its capital account. Again, it was no use asking " stoney broke " settlers to remain on their sections without some assistance. Then, again, there were the mortgagees to consider —State, public trust and private —who must be asked to, cut their losses with the Crown. But the Minister of Lands has met the position quite boldly and frankly and the work of the various committees which have been set up at different centres is already beginning to bear fruit. Local Government Finance. It would neither be politic nor possible to enter into details regarding the assistance which has been offered to settlers by the committees. . But there is one aspect of the question which is of public importance and is giving local bodies within the interested area mixed feelings of hope and concern—hopefulness, that the drastic reductions in" land valuations will induce an immediate flow of settlement; concern, that these self-same reductions will considerably disturb local government finance. It will readily be seen that a revaluation of the whole area is necessary to ensure an equitable incidence of rates. * To give specific examples of the extent to which the committee has exercised its power, the following may be quoted as having taken place at Kawhia County: One councillor informed his fellow-mem-bers that his property had been reduced from £2566 to £560: another settler stated that the unimproved value of his holding had dropped from £l.to 5s an acre; still another said that his liability to the Crown had been reduced from £2 10s to 10s an acre; a highly-valued section in the Moerangi block was taken up before the war in standing bush at £5 14s 6d an acre —it now stands at £l. Various other sections have been reduced to a scale ranging from 10s to 12s 6d an acre, which at one time were valued at from £2 to £3 an acre. Good Farming Proposition. During a recent visit to this district Mr. D. Stewart Reid, M.P. —himself a practical farmer—emphatically stated that farming on these figures was quite a good financial proposition, as compared with the high-priced lands of Waikato and Waipa, and the effect is already apparent. Several settlers who had declared their intention of abandoning their properties have decided to "give it another go." The shrewder ones are endeavouring to extend their boundaries by taking up adjoining areas at the cut figure. More important still, farmers are regaining their confidence, for, instead of a stone wall ahead, they can now see daylight, and several fairly extensive areas of bush are to come down this winter. As compared with the position of, say, 30 years ago, which is often recalled as the palmy days of land settlement, conditions now are infinitely more inviting. The butter industry is on a firm footing, and with the advent of home separation the bush settler can usually reach a factory with his cream. Prices for butterfat far exceed the values of those of a quarter of a century ago, and butter factories are dotted about so plentifully that few settlers are debarred from supplying Then, again, wool is more than double the figures which ruled in those distant days, bush clips at the last Auckland wool sales realising as high as per lb., with a firm outlook ahead, while both lamb and mutton now command steady and remunerative prices. County Council's Co-operation. The whole question was reviewed at the last, meeting of the Kawhia County Council All felt that the time was opportune in the direction of inviting landseekers to inspect this county For years the council had been fighting for a reduction in the price of Crown and native lands, which had been set at such a high level that settlement was not merely stagnant, but actually retrograde. Here was a committee which had the power to reduce virgin land to a reasonable and pavahle figure On the other side were numberless sections of unoccupied Crown and native lands, and abandoned holdings, none of which were paving a pennv in rates, and the council immediately decided to turn itself Jnto an advisory land agency company, with the object of co-operating with the Lands Department in an endeavour to promote settlement and, incidentally, rate revenue.