SMALL FARMS

Southland Times, Issue 22131, 27 September 1933, Page 6

SMALL FARMS

PRAISE FOR SCHEME BENEFIT TO NATION SPEEDING UP NECESSARY (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, September 26. The need for greater concentration on land settlement as a means towards bringing returned prosperity in New Zealand was stressed by Mr W. J. Broadfoot in seconding the Ad-dress-in-Reply motion in the House of Representatives this evening. Land settlement was slow, he said, but the principle, of the small farm scheme was a sound one and should be extended. If vitality and strength were to be infused into the Nev/ Zealand race, it was necessary to turn to the soil and freedom of the open air. In the past a home in the country had been denied to the man of small means, but that had been altered by the small farm scheme. It had been slow in operation, however, and he advocated simplification of administration with a view to giving the scheme more resilience. It was essential that the pace of land settlement should be accelerated, he declared, and suggested that the Government should allow a man with a small amount of capital to come under the scheme. It had been argued that the scheme was for a man without means, but he was of the opinion that the man with one hundred pounds or more was the man most likely to succeed on a small area, and if such men were placed on the land room would be made elsewhere for men who had not had the opportunity or ability to make headway. Continuing, Mr Broadfoot referred to the way in which men settled on the land were financed and advocated the amalgamation of all lending departments. This had been done in the United States, he said, and had proved beneficial to farmers requiring assistance.