REVERTED LANDS

Opunake Times, 17 October 1947, Page 1

REVERTED LANDS

LAND SETTLEMENT BOARD OPUNAKE DISCUSSION SETTLING SERVICEMEN Following- a meeting at Opunake on Monday, the practical economics of the proposal to utilise non-productive and reverted lands in the Egmont County were investigated by members of the Land Settlement Board. The meeting was attended by members of a special committee appointed by the South Taranaki executive of Federated Farmers, under the chairmanship of Mr. J. S. Strouge, local bodies and other interested organisations. “I cannot emphasise too strongly the existence within the county of land that is not being used, but which is served by. all the necessary facilities/’ ■■ said Mr. Stronge. “This land is good dairying land, as is instanced by the production of the adjoining farms. The cost would start at the farm gate. “No existing producing farmer would be displaced by utilising this land,” he continued. While appreciating the need for settling soldiers speedily, it seemed that the present system of acquiring farms or portions of farms from m oducing units was a very negative, and in some respects a bad, approach to the problem. “It strikes at the root of farm initiative in that a man who has worked hard and brought his land to a high pitch of production so that instead of being a one-man unit farm it is now a two or threeunit farm, now finds himself being asked to give up a portion of his well-worked land for sub--division/’ declared Mr. Stronge. Highest Pitch Needed

“We feel that at a time such as this, with Britain and the world crying but for production, that the right approach is to take new land and throw the full weight of the community in men, machinery and materials into bringing it into the highest pitcli of production,” Mr. Stronge added. “Settle men on this land and they will be none the worse off, and" the community as a whole will be richer. It is said that this will take too long. I do not see why—the men are here, the machinery is available, and perhaps not all the material but enough to make a good start, “The only reason why it cannot be developed quickly is “red tape,” lie continued. “They say you can’t touch this piece of land: it’s a West Coast lease—or that it can’t be alienated —and so on. If land is not being used and tenures are in tbe way, then legislation should be brought about to tackle the problem. _ “I should like to reiterate that at no time has it been the intention of this committee, or of myself personally, to attack either Maori or pakeha,” said Mr. Stronge. “Our approach has been impartial—solely that certain lauds were not being used. Acquire them and make them into farms.

“We believe that many men would rather he settled on land that is partially improved, land that can he developed by the soldiers’ own initiative into a decent sized, farm—not just a oneman mill-stone around his neck for life,’’ concluded Mr. Stronge. “The small one-man farm I feel, a bad thing for the farming communitv as a whole. It breeds the peasant outlook, which can have no place in the machine-age world.” Immensity of Problem The reference to “red tape” did not apply, said Mr. D. M. Greig, deputy chairman of the hoard, for what the hoard did was to carry, out the policy enunciated by the Government. Under the existing law it was not possible to' take native land or Crown leases for soldier settlement. Land was wanted for settlement, there could he no doubt about that,’ but the board could operate only withip the scope of the statutes of the day. The immensity of the problem of finding land for servicemen would be appreciated when it was, realised that the average'block for a serviceman comprised 300 acres.

Thus 300,000 acres were required for 1,000 men, and there were still 5,000 men in search of land.

“There is land doing nothing in this county and every time we suggest how it could be made productive we butt our heads against the brick wall of policy, or call it what you may,” said Mr. R. S. Martin, speaking on behalf of the Opunake Returned Services Association.

The only servicemen settled in the cbunty were settled on land that was already developed.' There had been no development in the county and the meeting offered a concrete proposal for development, and all it asked was that the necessary legislation, or whatever other steps were necessary, be provided, so that the work could proceed.

“There is no land in the county that is not within miles of an efficient factory,” said the chairman of the Opunake Power Board, Mr. J. S, Hidkey. Part of the problem was native land that was ideally situated for development but was being used for grazing only. Such land was bounded on one side by land capable of producing 1751 b. butterfat an acre, and on thfe other side 1501 b. butterfat an acre.

There appeared to be no policy for bringing in Uew land for soldier settlement, Tie continued. It would he much better from a naional point of view, A third of the land within the area of the Opunake Co-operative - Dairy Company Ltd. was not supplying one pound of butterfat to the factory.* If that portion was developed to the extent of the remainder one could imagine what that would mean to production. Beyond Its Control When Mr. Greig reiterated that the question of, jfative land was beyond the control of the board some members suggested that it wag not worthwhile proceeding with the discussions and the proposed inspection of land, but Mr. Greig replied that he and the other members of the party were prepared to iuvesigatc the submissions made that night on the land and submit reports to the authorities. “We are not hide-bound in any way, and if anything comes out of this meeting that will speed up settlement we will take it away happily,” said Mr. J. J. Granville, who is also a member of the Rehabilitation Board,

Other members of the party were Messrs. A. G. R, Anderson. Crown Lands Commissioner in Taranaki; W. D, Amit, land purchase inspector; B. C. McCabe, supervising valuer of the State Advances Corporation; L, Grant, fields inspector, New Plymouth. BOARD IMPRESSED POSSIBILITIES OF LAND Although they were able to make no specific promises, members of the Land Settlement Board who made a thorough tom of investigation of reverted lands in Egmont county on Tuesday timated that they had been impressed by the possibilities oi area- for soldier settlement, and that the mattei would be fully discussed and suitable recommendations made to the Minister of Lands and Rehabilitation, the Eon. C. F. Skinner. On their inspection the board members were accompanied by representatives of the South Taranaki province of the Federated Farmers and the Returned Services Association.

The party spent the greater part of the day in traversing the country. The board members were impressed with the possibilities of both Maori and pakeha blocks and by the fact that, reading already in existence precluded the need for subdivision. The board was definitely interested in certain properties, -commented the deputy chairman of the board, Mr. D. M. Greig, He added that as far as the native land was concerned no legislation existed which would enable the board to deal with the matter. The board was impressed by the contrast between the badly-re-verted and undeveloped native land and many of the adjoining farms