SOLDIERS AS SETTLERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25660, 7 October 1944, Page 8

SOLDIERS AS SETTLERS

AUSTRALIAN SCHEME APPROVED BY CONFERENCE (Rec. 10 pjn.) CANBERRA, Oct. 6. According to official estimates, about 50,000 Australian servicemen will eventually be settled on farms under a scheme approved by the Premiers’ Conference. More than 6000 applications have already been received in New South Wales alone. Of them, 2000 have been approved. An official estimate of the cost of the scheme is £200,000,000. It is considered that the original writing-down to give soldier settlers an economic block not over-capitalised will be between £7OO and £IOOO for each block. This cost will be shared by the State and the Commonwealth. Estimates placed before the Premiers’ Conference placed the cost of blocks at between £2OOO and £4OOO, according to the type of land and the type of farming to be undertaken. During the trairting period soldier settlers will be paid sufficient to maintain themselves and their families, and they will also receive financial assistance through the first difficult year, when they are preparing the ground and planting crops.

Both the Federal and the State Parliaments must pass legislation to validate the agreement reached at the Premiers’ Conference.