EMPIRE DEVELOPMENT

Southland Times, Issue 19097, 15 November 1923, Page 5

EMPIRE DEVELOPMENT

MIGRATION TO NEW ZEALAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SCHEME BUSINESS MEN’S ASSISTANCE. (Special to the Times). WELLINGTON, November 14. That politicians, however earnest and sincere, are the wrong men to handle the immigration question in New Zealand and that the placing of men on waste spaces here should be relegated to a conference of carefully selected business men of standing, is the claim of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, which to-day supported a scheme expounded by one of its members, providing for the settlement of 7,000,000 odd acres of land, which at present, he said, was unoccupied and uncultivated. The scheme includes the purchase of a large area of land by a settlement company, which it is proposed will issue shares—in which the immigrants shall invest —and select men with sufficient capital and qualifications, irrespective of whether they have relatives in the Dominion or not. The matter will form one of th© chief subjects for the forthcoming conference of the Chambers of Commerce which is to be held in Auckland next week. “The matter is so important to this country that whatever legislative difficulties exist must be removed,” said Mr Leigh Hunt. “It has been shown in the north that unproductive lands may be turned into productive lands. We have 6,000,000 acres of pumice lands in the North Island, 371, 800 acres of land that with irrigation may be occupied in Central Otago, and 800,000 acres of kauri gum lands at present merely waste. This gives a total of 7,171,000 acres that could support many settlers and add to the productiveness of the Dominion. These lands are at present idle. To deal with this question I would pick men who are not associated with politics at all. The whole thing should be dealt with by a conference of big men in the community, men whose standing is sufficient to guarantee their interest in the welfare of the Dominion.” The scheme has the approval of the Empire Trade and Development Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and it is contemplated at the beginning of next year to act on lines which will fol- 4 low the early successful land settlement schemes which operated in the Dominion. The Committee’s report says: “It has become so customary for the people of this Dominion to look to the Government as the sole force in national affairs, that to-day the great majority of people believe that any effort outside that of the State must necessarily be abortive and consequently futile. It is not suggested that the State should cease its activities, rather should it realise that the present rate of progress is totally inadequate and launch a forward policy covering every contingency. Supplementary to the activities of the State there is a great opportunity for private effort.” The report further states that the attraction of British capital and immigrants, both of which are linked with the destinies of the Dominion, by a system of shares in the settlements is roughly the idea of the scheme, which provides for the acquisition of blocks of second and third class land, capable of closer settlement through cultivation, and for legislation exempting such lands from taxation and local rates for from three to five years. It also proposes the offer of such lands for sale to British companies at market rates, the companies to undertake the making of the lands suitable for settlement, and to sell them to British immigrants at prices which will return interest at a rate not exceeding 10 per cent, per annum.