SOLDIER SETTLEMENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20801, 21 August 1929, Page 8

SOLDIER SETTLEMENTS.

From the way in which some people have talked about the subject, it might be supposed that New Zealand was the only country that, with the best intentions in the world, had blundered over its policy of settling its returned soldiers on the land. Mr Waite, who is as well-informed on this subject as any other member of Parliament can claim to be, performed a service in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon when he showed that Australia is confronted with a problem arising out of the losses due to soldier settlements that is not less serious, than the problem m this Dominion, A recent investigation which Mr Justice Pike, of the New South Wales Land Court, conducted on behalf of the Commonwealth Government has shown that the losses by the Australian States amount to £-23,000,000. The circumstances in which these losses were made were strikingly similar to those that obtained here. The explanation of them that is given in the Argus might be applied, without the alteration of a single word, to the case in Now Zealand. “ In the first place,” says the Argus, “ the problem was pressing. Men returned in large numbers, and their repatriation was demanded by themselves and on their behalf. The war had created a demand for primary products, and it contributed to a general inflation. The result was that nominal values of land were very high and that it was difficult to distinguish between the nominal value and the real value. The entrance of Governments into the land market further inflated the price of land. Estates had no sooner been acquired than deflation began with a rapid fall in the prices of those commodities which the soldiers were expected to produce. They were in occupation of land for

which they were committed to pay high prices, and they had to produce for a glutted market/' The claim which the soldier settlers had to special consideration is generally acknowledged. But the misfortunes of the settlers provided certain politicians with a weapon with which they attacked the Government that placed the soldiers on the land. In some cases the prices that were paid for the land proved Jo be much too high, hut it was' honestly believed by the Land Purchase Board, when the land was acquired, that it was not recommending the Government to pay more than the land was actually worth.