THE SMALL FARM SCHEME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21315, 17 October 1932, Page 8

THE SMALL FARM SCHEME

The value of the small farm scheme as a constructive relief activity was emphasised on Saturday in reports from Mr. J. S. Jessep, deputychairman of the Unemployment Board, and Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P., who has been specially engaged upon the problem of unemployed boys. Mr. Jessep is impressed with its possibilities, and says it is working out satisfactorily in the North, where he had the opportunity of obtaining first-hand knowledge. In Taranaki, said Mr. Smith, 50 men had been settled on small areas. They were satisfied with the conditions and grateful for the chance. The board has, therefore, every encouragement to expand its operations in this field. The advantages are that distressed families are provided with a home and an area of land which will produce part of their food, supplementary rations being provided from the Unemployment Fund, and by arrangement with the owner of the farm the breadwinner is assured of some work, usually receiving payment in kind. It is not settlement in the full sense of the term, but it will pave the way for many to a future on the land. Probably the greatest handicap confronting the majority of farmers is the size of their holdings. They are burdened with too much land, and further subdivision is the natural trend. Mortgage obligations may check the movement, but there is every reason to believe that it will gather momentum. Thus the competent small holder of the relief system may be able to join the ranks of the small farmers sooner than he imagines. The average man who goes to relief camps in the country may regard his work only as a means of earning sustenance for his family, but for those with energy and enterprise and an aptitude for the land, there is the prospect of making contacts which will lead to the small holding and eventually the farm. Something of the pioneer spirit and a readiness to find a solution on the land will go a long way to bring it about, for the board will do its utmost to further its constructive policy.