LAND FOR UNEMPLOYED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18242, 10 November 1933, Page 5

LAND FOR UNEMPLOYED

NAPIER PLAN APPROVED DRAINAGE OF LAGOON (Per Press Association.) NAPIER, this day. Approval lias been given by the .Minister of Finance, the lit. lion. J. lb Coates, to the proposal of the Napier Harbor Board for the development and settlement of the Ahuriri lagoon, covering 7590 acres. Advice has been received by the chairman of the board, Mr. T. M. Geddis, from the deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board, Mr. J. S. Jessep, that the Government is willing to provide nil amount up to £50,C00 for the drainage and settlement of the area.

The scheme provides for the drainage of the Ahuriri lagoon, which was raised 7ft. by the earthquake, and for the development of land with a view to cutting it into small farms on which unemployed men and their families will be settled. A large portion of the land is already high and dry, while the remainder is under Ift. or 2ft, of water.

Analyses which have been made by Mr. B. C. Aston, chief chemist of the Department ot' Agriculture, have proved that the soil is composed of elements which make it eminently suitable for cultivation along certain lines. The scheme is subject to an agreement between the Napier Harbor Board and the Government. The Government is to take a lease of the area, and is to advance £50,000 for developmental work. This will include draining, reading, fencing, sowing, and the erection of homes for the prospective tenants. The settlers, who will 1k; chosen from the ranks of registered unemployed, will pay a rental to the Government, and the revenue thus derived will he devoted towards the redemption 'of the original advance of BS'JXJO. When tilts sum of £50,000 has been repaid, the agreement between the Government and the Harbor Board will again corne under review.

Besides providing permanent homes and a livelihood for relief workers and their families, the scheme will give much employment in preparation of the land, its drainage, and development. A large proportion of the estimated cost of development will be for labor, and the execution of the scheme is expected to be the means of materially easing the unemployment situation in Hawke’s Bay.