CLOSE SETTLEMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21893, 31 August 1934, Page 12

CLOSE SETTLEMENT

SMALL FAKMS SCHEME "A GOOD INVESTMENT" PROGRESS ON MANY BLOCKS 8 - [BY TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER! WELLINGTON, Thursday The claim that within the limit;? control led by the necessity for purchasing; land the small farms settlement scheme had fully justified itself was made by the Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Lands, to-day. The Minister said the scheme should be considered together with the department's land derelopmont operations, on which unemployed men were engaged. The men at present working under the scheme were distributed as follows: —Employed on small blocks, 794; employed on ordinary settlement blocks, 217; established as share-milkers, 325; placed on individual holdings, 816; total, 2152. Including 1090 men employed in forestry, which was seasonal land work, the grand total was 3242. Under the original small farm scheme, continued Mr. Ransom, operations were in the main confined to 10-acre holdings, but the advisability of establishing men on full-time farms soon became apparent. Except in favoured localities, the occupier of a five or ten-acre holding was still largely dependent on the labour market.

Developing Marginal Lands The Small Farms Board, established in April of last year, had decided as a policy measure on a scheme of absorbing a maximum amount of labour and of keeping establishment costs per settler at a minimum. Therefore, the board had set out to develop marginal lands of a lighter type, these lands readily responding to top-dressing, although the purchase cost was low. Sections of Crown land of the same type were also being used. The Small Farms Board was actively engaged in the development ol: 28 blocks, comprising 36,720 acres and 558 holdings. Apart from this, the Lands Development Board was developing for ordinary settlement 11 blocks, comprising 60,000 acres and 290 holdings. Allowing for blocks under negotiation, there was in prospect for selection approximately 1000 entirely new holdings. On several blocks houses had already been built and balloted for, and prospective settlers and their families were in occupation. As an indication that many small farms were already self-supporting, the Minister said that the number of men receiving sustenance had been reduced from 608 to 307. The total amount autnorised for small farm settlement to date was £508,000. Details ol Blocks

Mr. Ransom gave details of the following blocks as examples of typical small farm development:—Jsgatamahine (Te Kuiti), 2818 acres, 23 holdings, 35 men employed; Pururu (Te Kuiti), 1990 acres, 15 holdings, 79 men; Waitanguru (Te Kuiti), 1853 acres, 13 holdings, 48 men; McKenzie's (Hokianga), 1513 acres, 15 holdings, 53 men; Tutamoe scheme (Dargaville), 1607 acres, 18 holdings, 34 men; Motutangi swamp (Kaitaia), 1400 acres, 15 holdings, 35 men; Kaitaia swamp, 800 acres, 17 holdings, 50 men; Murupara (Rotorua), 2120 acres, 18 holdings, 31 men. "In spite of the unfavourable position of our primary industries," said Mr. Ransom, "I believe the scheme will prove a good investment for the Dominion. It is a valuable extension of the Government's closer settlement policy."