LAND SETTLEMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23078, 1 July 1938, Page 9

LAND SETTLEMENT

GOVERNMENT'S POLICY KING COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT [by telegbaph—OWN correspondent] TE KUITI, Thursday The work done by the Government to" assist agriculture was outlined by the Postmaster-General, the Hon. F. Jones, when opening the Te Kuiti Winter Show to-day. He said that no Government had evervvoted such large sums to agriculture, no less than £753,000 being voted last year. The Minister added that the Government had spent £75,000 last year in destroying ragwort and was spending another £13,000 for subsidies toward the purchase of sodium chlorate. Referring to the Government's land settlement policy, Mr. Jones said that ample scope for the operations of the Small Farms Board was to be found in the Te Kuiti district, where ragwort and second growth, combined with depression conditions, had drawn many Grown tenants from their sections. It was the Government's intention to concentrate on bringing back these deteriorated lands to a state of production rather than to embark on an extensive campaign of land acquisition. Since March, 1937, the number of blocks approved for development in the King Country alone had increased from 40 to over 60, the total area being approximately 40,000 acres. The area in new grass in the same period had increased from 3872 acres to 7278 acres, and, in addition, 7060 acres of reverted pastures had been brought back into good heart grass. The revenue for the.past year had increased from £27,490 to £53,922. "It must be stressed that the Government, with its superior resources, is in a much better position than the individual to develop land which has reverted to ragwort and second growth," added Mr. Jones. "There is abundant evidence in the Lands and "Survey Department's records that the ■chances of a man being able to succeed on these properties are remote if •he has to look to a mortgagee for ■everything he required."