CHANCES FOR SETTLERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19249, 13 August 1924, Page 8

CHANCES FOR SETTLERS.

NEW ZEALAND ADVERTISED London Newspaper ARTICLES. UNPREJUDICED OPINIONS. (Feom Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, July 3. Major-general A. G. Wauchop recently contributed to The Times three articles on settlement in Australia. Last week he gave some particulars regarding the outlook for settlers in the dominion. “No one who hao travelled in New Zealand,” he writes, “denies either the charm of the country, the richness of the soil, or the warm welcome that its people give to all Englishmen. But there are some who have never been there Who argue that New Zealand is but a small island, that the best of the land has already been bought or leased, and, consequently, that there is no room for further development. Certainly, if there be no scope for further development in farming, then there is no room for more settlers, for, as in Australia, there is little demand for workers in the towns. It needs, however, but little knowledge or a short visit to the dominion to confute the assumption that progress in the chief branches of farming his come to an end.”

General Wauchope then points ont that though there is now little Crown land available for eottlere, there is still much land whicli haa not been full}' developed, and, as in all new countries, a number of large properties are each year subdivided and made available for closer settlement. New Zealand is ready to accept some 10,000 migrant® a yea,r, and it is Geneml Wauchope’s belief that the outlook for the future prospective settlers who are ready to work on the land is most favourable. “ Settlers of the next few yearg will, in (act, have advantages over those who , migrated shortly after the war. In the first place, certain factors which caused extreme fluctuations in the prices of farm produce during the years immediately after the war no longer operate, and greater stability in prices is an immense gain to the settler. Further, land, stock, and building material have generally fallen in value during the last few years, consequently a settler to-day with the same amount of capital can make a start on a better-equipped farm than could the settler of a few years ago. Lastly, New Zealand has now recovered from a period of depression, and the value of farm products hag risen in relation to the cost of production. It was certainly the opinion of nearly all farmers' whom I met that, though many had failed since the war, and many others were hard hit, the prospects of all—except those of some fruitgrowers—were growing more and more hopeful.” General Wauchope deals with phases of the subject which arc all well known to people of the dominion—the journey out and Government assistance, shortage of houses, wages, societies for assisting settlers, land prices, and public schoolboy settlers. “New Zealand,” he says, "has been called the Britain of the Pacific, the Britain with more sun. It is, however, a poor compliment to say that one country is like another. New Zealand haa,a bcanty and character of its own. In the variety of its scenery lice perhaps its greatest charm. The snowcovered mountains of the west, the country of forest and hush yielding every year to the attacks of pioneers and new settlers, the volcanic districts of the north, and the well-watered valleys green with pastures of unequalled richness ate praised by every traveller, as they arc loved by all her people.” DAIRY FARMING. Another article from the pen of Mr Fenton Macpherson—his fourth—appeal's in The Daily Chronicle. In it he quotes the advice of a “young, well-educated New Zealander of to-day, who believes in scientific specialised farming.” He was convinced that the road to prosperity for newcomers now runs through the dairy farm. “No slackers wanted, hard work and study,” are two of the points which the New Zealander cut phasiscs. Mr Macpherson goes on to describe the system of share milking. The interest of these articles for New Zealanders is the great publicity that is being given to conditions iu the dominion through these influential London newspapers. No longer can the general public plead ignorance of the overseas countries, or complain that their information is from prejudiced sources. The articles are written by English visitors for the English people. This type of information is what, after all, really counts.