GROUP SETTLEMENTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19137, 5 October 1936, Page 5

GROUP SETTLEMENTS

"SLUMS OF THE BUSH"

C LERGYMAN'S STAT EM ENT

PERTH, Sept, 22.

The Rev. J. L. Edwell, of Margaret River, speaking at the synod of the Bunbury diocese of the Church of England to-day, described the group settlements in the south-west of the State as the

"slums of the bush" and comparable with the slums of London. The settlers, he said, had been subjected to lying" propaganda. There had been bribery and corruption from the start, and the history of the groups would hardly bear writing. It was a history of ghastly failure and appalling maladministration on the part of the Government and Slate Agricultural Bank. Nine hundred families, out of from 3000 to 4000, were left on the groups. The settlements were one of the greatest blols on the State's history.

The synod resolved, on Mr. Edwell's motion, that ihe church viewed with deep concern the plight of the settlers, and considered immediate relief should be given by reducing the capital value of the holdings by 50 per cent, or interest to 2J, per cent, to prevent a further serious exodus.

The Bishop of Bunbury, Dr. Cecil Wilson, stated that the Governments of Britain, Australia and Western Australia spent nearly £10,000,000 on group settlements, and the church spent many thousands of pounds. Many settlers who came from Britain were unfitted for the hard work of clearing the bush, and had no capacity for farm work. On an average, three settlers had tried to work each farm. He appealed for more generous treatment of the settlers.