NEGLECTED LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20536, 10 April 1930, Page 14

NEGLECTED LAND.

Sir, —In these days when one hears so much about unemployment one . wonders why the Public Works; Department,,' also county councils and Other- local bodies, do not recruit their ■ labour from the ranks of the unemployed,/instead of employing men who already have a means of earning a livelihood- 'Also- to-day thel cry of the Government r-is- for closer settlement, of the land. Would it not ba far better for the country to endeavour to bring the land which is already taken up into a state of greater productivity?. Yet there are scores of dairy farmers who prefer to go and work on the roads, rather than spend their time, cleaning up their farms, and in so doing' bring therrt to a state which would enable them to run more cows and probably in time employ labour on their own farms instead of working for others and allowing their farms to go back. Many farmers will say they could not :make ends meet if they/ did not get work outside- their farirs. This is perhaps true in some cases, say for the first two years, but every day a farmer spends working "wisely" on his farm will in the end bring him in more in hard cash than a week wasted working for others. I consider that .a dairy farmer who possesses a motor-truck has only tied a millstone round his rieck. X.Y.Z.