TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26958, 18 December 1948, Page 8

TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY

Sir,—l am afraid the supporters of the Reform Party—l was one—will wish “ Matilda ” had said nothing about land settlement, as this is one black blot that can never be erased from that party. I by letter writing and at farmers’ meetings never laid all the blame on the party, because at the time the country was clamouring for land, but it must take its share because it appointed the supposed expert land buyers, who so enhanced the price of land that a false value was created.

True, the soldiers were settled, but not the way “ Matilda ■” thinks. Not only they but other farmers, and those that lent money on land, were ruined, not only financially but in some cases bodily, and the ratepayers had to foot the bill of reduction in land values up to about £20,000,000.

" Matilda ” condemns the Labour Government for taking a lesson from what happened and being cautious, and wishes them to carry on as before, but I - say as a sufferer, let us back up Labour for trying to put up a fence at the top of the cliff. My motto is:“Keep land cheap."—l am, etc., A Sufferer,

Sir, —When your correspondent “ Matilda ” stated that the Labour Government In 1941 extended Its life by two years, was it because he did not know or was it a deliberate attempt to mislead? It was the darkest period of the war, and the arrangement was made with the approval of the National Party. If “ Matilda ” had his way, what sort of a society would we have—no restrictions, no controls, every man a law unto himself? In spite of all his complaining one is inclined to think that the same “ Matilda ” would endure with a smile conditions 10 times worse If only a National Government were in power. He knows full well that the people of this country have never been better off in their lives. He is unfortunate in the comparison he draws between the number of soldiers settled on the land after the first and second world wars. The Reform Government of that day did not believe to controls, with the result that land values had soared to. unprecedented heights. Settling soldiers on the land was the best card in the political pack, and the Government played it for all it, was worth. The boom was on, and prices were high. There was not a cloud in the sky. From one end of the country to the other wealthy Reform landowners were offering their inferior lands to the Government for soldier settlement. Little regard was paid to the prices paid for the land, and little regard to the soldiers taking it up. True, large numbers of soldiers were settled in this way, and the Government sat back and viewed with satisfaction the result of its handiwork. The inevitable crash came, and instead of the. Government having settled soldiers on the land, it turned out that numbers had been settled under the land. The tragic story of the settlement of soldiers by the Reform Government is too well known to require telling again. I agree that settlement of soldiers on the land to-day could and should be speeded up. Legislation recently passed should have the effect of bringing about this desired result.—l am, etc., Commonsense. j

Sir. —In reference to your correspondent, ** Matilda's ” remarks that after the First World War . 9734 men had been settled., on the land, I would draw attention to - the fact that owing to the policy of the then farmer Government of paying high prices to wealthy landowners for secondclass land, many returned men, after years of hopeless struggle against economic conditions, walked off their farms ruined men. These misdeals were the cause of an inquiry, and involved the taxpayers in the loss ,of many million pounds and created the greatest political scandal in the history of New Zealand. The present Socialistic Government, by the creation of the Land Sales Committee, is endeavouring to assist the returned men, not rob them. —I am, etc., 5/55.