WAIROA'S PROBLEMS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19886, 14 March 1939, Page 8

WAIROA'S PROBLEMS

NOXIOUS WEEDS MENACE UNOCCUPIED LAND M INISTEIiIAL ATTITUDE ( Special to the JTeruld.) WAIROA, this day. Wairoa’s aerodrome, noxious weeds, the problem of second and third class lands, and hospital rating were among the several questions which were discussed with' the Minister of Lands, the Hon. F. Langstone, by deputations which waited on him in Wairoa. Mr. Langstone, who was accompanied by Mr. E. L. Cullen, M.P., was welcomed by the Deputy-Mayor. Mr. M. J. Gemmell. C'.i behalf of the Wairoa County Council, the chairman, Mr. A. T. Carroll. also extended a welcome, after which he made several requests to the Minister for his consideration. Speaking on behalf of the Farmers’ Union, Mr. D. H. Withers raised the vexed question of noxious weeds. He stated that the union -had spent' a great deal of time in endeavouring to assist the farmers in their efforts to handle the problem. There had been a scheme of subsidising labour, but the difficulty had been that only registered unemployed should be used. . 'lt had been found impossible to obtain registered unemployed men for the work, and in order to overcome the difficulty he suggested that farmers should be able to employ any men under the subsidised scheme. More Co-operation Suggested Speaking of this question, Mr. P. J. O'Kane stated that he thought much of the trouble would be ovei come if there were a little more cooperation between the Government departments and a little more elasticity. iMr. Withers said another difficulty was caused through unoccupied native and Crown lands. In the case of native lands it was often very difficult to find the owners of the blocks and it was therefore impossible to enforce the regulations, with the resmt that the land was allowed to continue to grow noxious weeds. The settlement and development of these lands, he thought, would overcome the problem. It was also suggested by Mr. Withers that the occupiers of second and third class lands should 'be given some financial assistance to keep them clean o.id productive. Reference to the second and third class lands was made also by Mr. O’Kane. He stated that no Minister had done more for the occupiers of this class of land than Mr. Langstone, and he hoped the Minister would extend his generosity a little further. Government’s Endeavours With reference to the noxious weeds problem, the Minister stated that the Government had endeavoured to get the co-operation of local bodies in dealing with the menace, and had succeeded to a degree. He said that a subsidy of 16s 6d a day had been granted for the wages of men employed on this work, 14s of which came from the unemployment fund and 2s 6d from the Department of Agriculture. It. was, therefore, utter’y' impossible to use that money for my thing but registered unemployed. The money came from the unemployment fund and must be used for unemployed. He spoke at some length on the efforts that had been made to deal with the problem, and of the hopes of success with the experiments being carried out at the Cawthrcn Institute with the ragwort seed fly.

Now that the unemployment fund was to be done away with, the Minister added, they would have to find some other ways and means of dealing with the problem. The Government would do its. best to meet the requirements of local bodies.

The Minister dealt extensively with the problem of unoccupied lands and explained what was being done to settle the natives on the land. At the conclusion the Minister was accorded a vote of thanks.