Land Settlement for Returned Servicemen Is Vital Requirement

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27082, 17 May 1949, Page 4

Land Settlement for Returned Servicemen Is Vital Requirement

Daily Times Staff Reporter

“ The history of a country is the history of its soil. Where that is neglected civilisations perish. We must maintain a proper balance of population. You cannot build up city populations and neglect the rural population. That is when all the ‘ isms arise.” These remarks were made by Mr Stuart Sim, of Crookston, at a recent meeting of farmers at Kelso when they met to discuss with the assistant Commissioner of Lands, Mr W. G. Nelson, the question of soldier settlement in the district. The urgent requirement of to-day was to increase rural populations, Mr Sim said. It was not a question of dispossessing people at all This possibility had been the theme of considerable discussion throughout the district, but it was made abundantly clear at the meeting, that the Government had no intention of dispossessing anyone, but wished to acquire land, where possible, to settle returned servicemen farmers.

Driving snow squalls and a freezing temperature did not deter a number of young farmers without holdings, but all keen to work their own land, from attending to hear what Mr Nelson had to say. Mr Nelson detailed to the meeting the acreage of first, second, and third-class land available in New Zealand. The land in the first two categories was practically all taken up, he said, but there was room for closer settlement. This would make for better use of the soil, for increased production in a world of food scarcity, and would be better for the Dominion from the security pbint of view. Mr Nelson explained the policy of the Government in the matter of purchasing land and the settlement of competent returned soldier farmers upon it. It was essential that people should have a proper appreciation of the necessity for closer settlement, he said. This was so in a number of cases, and one run in the district had permitted the Crown to purchase seven-ninths of its area—sufficient for seven holdings. There were cases, however, where some difficulty was experienced in negotiating. As one member of the audience had said, there were instances of landholders commencing to negotiate and then rolling “a boulder” in the path and deliberately holding up the transfer for another year or more. A questioner later asked Mr Nelson why it was that carpenters would not go into the country. He did not have the answer, but the difficulties are obvious. Apart altogether from the fact that extensive building operations are going on in the cities and towns where housing shortages are acute, building contractors find it nearly impossible to billet men while on country jobs. The urgency of the settlement problem, and the need for acquiring land, through subdivision is seen in the fact

that 399 ex-servicemen have been settled on rural holdings of all types in Otago, but there are still 439 requiring land. Time is required to settle the men once the land is secured, and for the 27 properties secured by the Government, the average time of settlement has been 18 months. Mr Nelson told the meeting under review that despite all efforts, the average time taken to get a house built was 12 months. Of the 399 soldiers who have settled on the land in the province, 102 have been assisted by the Crown, and 297 have settled without assistance, but it was pointed out by Mr Nelson and also by old farmers at the meeting that of the total who originally expressed a desire for farms,, a large percentage have since changed their minds, and drifted into remunerative city employment. While it - was felt by many at the meeting that there were a number of holdings within this rich pastoral area which could be conveniently subdivided without harm to the owner, such holders of land were loth to deal with the Crown. There was no question of nationalisation of land being “just round the corner” as one farmer put it.

If a farmer had an economic unit and was working it he was not going to be dispossessed by the State or anyone else, it was stated. That had been the fear, quite unfounded, of a number of'people within the district. Mr Nelson pointed out that under the Act a soldier had the right to freehold his property at any time, and while that right was there nationalisation was a myth. The Crown endeavoured by all fair means to acquire' land for the soldiers, and compulsory acquisition was the last step. In the general discussion which followed, the need for accentuating the building up of rural populations was again emphasised, and one speaker contended that high wages were taking men from the land. Apart from the difficulty of securing suitable subdivisional holdings, this trend also had to be combated. The speaker instanced the case of an elderly farming couple on a good holding whose son had left the land to earn £lB a week in a freezing works.

It was pointed out that there were the second priority men and men from Pacific drafts who had to be settled, apart from the backlog of first priority men seeking farms. The meeting concluded on the note that while the country’s urgent need was for men, the land could not compete against the city and its lure of higher wages.