WASTE LANDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3783, 14 September 1926, Page 75

WASTE LANDS.

A DIFi'ICULT PROBLEM. WELLINGTON, September 7. When the t nnual report on the working of the Lands for Settlement Act was presented to the House of Representatives today by the Hon. A. D. M‘Leod, Mr J. C. Rollei-ton (Waitomo) said he thought that possibly a great deal more could be done than the Minister thought with the waste lands not in occupation. The Minister had said he doubted if the expenditure in connection with putting men on this class of land would be justified. A great deal of that land was becoinng a liability as it was getting overrun by noxious weeds and rabbits. It would soon cost more to keep these pests off the land than the land was worth. He wished to impress on the Minister the necessity of tackling the prblem as soon as possible. Recently it had been announced that the Government had bought a block of land costing £65,000, and that on the block five settlers would be placed, so it was going to cost over £12,000 to put each settler on his holding, and the money would be better spent if half the sum were laid out in putting men on virgin land. Mr H. M. Campbell (Ilawkes Bay) expressed the opinion that as it was difficult for men of small means to make a success of such land, it seemed to him that this land could be successfully occupied only by men of considerable means who were given security of tenure. Tho Hon. Mr M‘Leod said the fact about the Cisborne purchase was that the land was purely sheep country. He would be surprised if 20 or more settlers were not placed on it. He recognised that the matters Mr Rolleston had mentioned were problems which had to be settled, and that if they were not settled the country was going back seriously. There were men who had more land than they wanted; but thero were obstacles in the way of this and legislation to overcome any difficulty would be considered. The department had some 200 abandoned farms on its hands at present, and 150 of these were in the. two Aucklan districts, a batch in the Nelson-West-land district, and a batch near the Wanganui River. The remainder were scattered over the whole of New Zealand. Most of these lands were purchased not at recent high prices, but were Crown lands for many years. He agreed with Mr Campbell that to hold land of this kind was a iob for a wealthy man. but most wealthy men had more sense than to invest in these lands. Mr Campbell: You give them a little security and see.