SOLDIER SETTLEMENT

Otago Witness, Issue 3512, 5 July 1921, Page 6

SOLDIER SETTLEMENT

DEPUTATIONS TO MR GUTHRIE. The lion. I). H. Guthrie (Minister of Lands and Acting- Minister of Railways) who is at present on. a visit to Otago chiefly to investigate matters affecting' the welfare of soldier settlers on the land, oil Thursday received a number of deputations at the Grand Hotel. The principal on was from the Otago District Council of the Returned Soldiers’ Association. The deputation was introduced by Mr C. E. •Statliam, M.l\, who said that apart from the* members of the District. Council _of the Returned Soldiers’ Association, it included men from Teviot, Wairuna, and. Tilverstowe settlements. Mr M’Crae brought under the notice of the Minister the grievances of soldier settlers in connection with Tevict and Clifton. the postponement of payments of rent, roading and draining and altering the dates for payment of instalments. THE MINISTER'S REPLY. The Minister, in reply, said he was very pleased t-o have the opportunity of mect'ng the deputation. He denied that he had promised to visit all the soldier settlements, and went on to refer to the many demands on his time, remarking in connection with a 44- hours a week for work ho would bo glad to get 44 houiV rest a week. With regard to Teviot, continued .Mr Guthrie, everything that it had been possible to Jo there had boon done. It had been cut up in a way that his department thought it was possible for every man to make a “do” of it. It.had been said that it had cost too much, but. he could assure them that the Government had not made a profit out of any of the soldier settlements in New Zealand. Of course they were judging now from the slump in prices, and perhaps the prices paid for the Teviot and the stock would not be realised to-day. Th. refore they could not in the inteiesis of the country make a huge loss on the stock purchased because they were now at the bottom of the slump, and for that.reason they were not asking the soldiers to take over the stock at (ho original prices paid for it. Th - Government had decided to hold rack the stock for a year so that lb soldier would not be put on the land at high p: ■ s for iho stock, and liter find that, the actual values were much less. Consequently it had urn dertaken to keep the thing going for another veer, and by next season they all hoped «tfaat conditions would have improved and that we would be som.where near normal prices again so that the soldiers could be put on the land with a fair chance. It would have been absurd to hand over the stock to the soldiers and lot them take their chance. The department, ■was out to help the soldiers, and it was anxious not to put. them in a false position. Therefore it decided, although a great deal of work was involved, that the proper thing to do was to hang on to the stock and any profit would certainly go to the soldiers and not. to the Government, bo that the soldiers would benefit. Mr M'Crae: Do we understand that the only reason why you have not allowed the

soldiers to stock their land is in order to clear the Government of loss on the high priced stock purchased ? j The Minister: That is one reason. Mr M'Crae: It is the only reason we could conceive. Continuing, Mr Guthrie said the Government hud to grow quantities of winter feed on certain sections, and if the Government had sold those sections one man would have got everything and another man nothing. It would have been impossible to have fenced otf a small part of each man’s section to crow feed. ! Mr M'Crae: Are any men being allowed to stock? It seemed that they were being prevented from doing so because the Government was going to lose a few shillings. He saw no reason why the land should not be opened up and the soldiers enabled to get the benefit of the present low prices of stock instead of keeping the men from stocking the land. It appeared that the Government was being considered and not the soldiers. The Minister: It is not only in the interests of the Government, but of tlie people I of New Zealand, and the returned soldiers | as well. ' j I Mr M'Crae: The Government is not losing. ! j It owns this stock. Mr Guthrie: Any profit will go to a reduction m the price of the stock when it i being handed over to the soldiers, i Mr M'Rae : You do not suggest that tire soldiers must pay the inflated prices at | which the Government bought? j _ The Minister: Wo want to put the soldiers : in at .normal values. What you are advo- . eating means that we should let tile sol ! diets in at slump prices. | Mr M'Crae: At the present ruling value; W hy should not the soldiers get the bonelit of the slump ? ! ihe Minister: I quite see your standpoint, but I cannot "look at it from your point of view. Mr M'Crae: Wo think that it is a very selfish policy on the part of the Government, and that the Government shows a. great want of consideration for these men going on the Teviot by putting itself first. | I he Minister: That is not so but we : want to play fairly by the soldiers. | Mr M'Crae: I want to be quite candid with regard to the soldiers there. This was the only reason which we could conceive for the Government holamg up the. stock, and we consider it a very paltry reason. T r. simply amounts to this lint the Government paid big prices for this stock and now it is trying to get its money back. The Minister: We are looking at the matter from dill'eretn points, and I do not think we can reconcile them. I must administer tho public funds to the best advantage. TTDecoding, the. Minister again point : 1 out with respect to the statement made by Mt M'Crae that tho ,-ents were too high- that tile Government was not going to make a profit out of any of the settlements. Tn some instances of deferred payments they knew they were losing interest, and consequently tho country was losing over ami above what the balance sheet showed. Tho deputation had suggested that the rentals should be reduced by one-third. That obviously meant a very serious loss to the country, and with regard to tho freehold at Teviot he did not see where any reduction

could be made in the rent. With respect to the runs attached to tho sections it might to considered, and he had b-scussed that matter in a small way with Mr Sadd. As for the freehold, it would be impossible to make any reduction. The matter of roading and drainage, which had been mentioned, was first brought up by the Hawke’s Bay settlers two years ago, and its unfairness was then pointed out. The deputation would see, however, that it would be a very difficult matter to apportion to each settler his share of the cost of the roach The roading and drainage were done as a-block, and it would be a very hard thing to apportion the respective payments among a number of settlers. Mr M'Crae: Wo only ask that a rebate be made until such time as the money is spent. It is only a small matter, but nobody likes the present system. The Minister: We have all done it in the past. It is almost an impossibility to apportion cut the cost, and in any case the benefit would not be commensurate with the cost. POSTPONEMENT OF RENTS. “With respect to the postponement of Settlement, Mount Pisa and rabbits, and the grievances of Benmore settlers. Replying to the representations made by Mr I.aing, the Minister said with regard to the Clifton Settlement that when he saw it himself he considered that the sections were too small, and said so at the time. Where experience showed that sections had been made too small they were increased. That had been done over and over again. It was the desire of the Government to enable the settler to have the opportunity of making something and giving him something- to look forward to. If it had been done earner the Clifton Settlement might have been in a different position to-day. The mistake made at Clifton would not be repeated at Wairuna-. With regard to the question of rents, ho did not form the opinion that too high a price had been paid for the Clifton Settlement. It was land that required expert knowledge and experience to work, and he was afraid, from liis own personal observation when he visited the settlement, that many of the settlers were very inexperienced. Mr Lr.ing said it seemed significant that no one ;n the vicinity had taken up Clifton «r the outset. With regard to Mount Pisa, the Minister said that it had been taken up as a going concern, for the reason that their experience was that on these high country runs it was useless selling off tne original stock and allowing the settlers to introduce stock “iinacciimatised.” Tho stock originally belonging to the property had been secured at a reasonable price. At Mount Pisa there was also the question of water. The Government had secured the freehold and all the water rights, and it was hoped that a settlement would be established, on a sound basis. With regard to rabbits, the Minister reiterated what he had previously said, and added that, it was proposed to have rabbit-proof fences erected on all boundaries, the soldier settlers to be supplied with the necessary materials, for which payment would be taken in instalments.

Mr Hartstcnge (a retired farmer and a member of the Returned Soldiers’ Association Lands Committee) said it would bo th rowing away money to erect netting wire fences on tho high lands of the Mount Pisa Settlement. It was snow country, and drifts would bank up and allow the rabbits to walk over the fences. The greatest care must be exercised in regard to such a proposal. Practical knowledge was essential, and the department ought to be very careful. G LADBROO K SETT LEM ENT. Messrs D. C. Kidd, J. Anderson, and R. Mitchell, soldier settlers on Gladbrook, Middleman'll, waited on the Minister asking for a revaluation and also for land to provide winter feed. Mr J. Edie, M.P.. introduced tho deputation. lie explained that the men represented live soldiers. They considered* that owing- to the slump the rent they were paying was out of ail proportion to their income. The Minister: “I hope that that will not last long.” I Mr Kidd submitted accounts showing that j after all expenses were paid his wool return showed practically nothing. He had no ! other source ot revenue. The run consisted of 2200 acres, ranging up to 4000 ft high. Tho carrying capacity was only 500 sheep. The homestead block was utterly incapable of providing sufficient winter feed, and he thought that possibly relief might be found by the provision of suitable land for growing winter feed. He thought there wore two sections in the Poplar Grove Settlement still not taken up, and these might be used. The rental, however, would need to be reduced, £1 per acre being excessive. The Minister said he could not give a levaluation. The Act did not provide for one within thiee years, and iie was not going to break the law. The Government was offering assistance in other ways. He recapitulated what he had already said to the R.S.A. deputation with regard to the postponement of rents. He urged the deputation to have faith in the future. . Mr Kidd pointed out that in the meantime the settlers were sinking lower and lower. If the Government would return him the money he had spent on his place he would walk out and never ask for wages. The Munster replied that he was sorry |to hear a settler speak like that. He again ! urged that it brighter view of the future j should be taken. j The other members of the deputation also i submitted figures to show the unstable posii tion in which they stood. The best net I return did not exceed £IOO for the season. | The Minister assured Mr Kidd that every genuine “ trier ” would find the Government behind him. He was surprised at the low carrying capacity of the runs. Mr Kidd and the others impressed him as practical men. Everyone knew that with high coun- , try a certain amount of low country was necessary, and he considered tho proposition regarding Poplar Grove to be a fair and reasonable one. He would leave the' matter in the hands of the Laud Board to see what could he done.