SOLDIERS AND FARMS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 68, Issue 5945, 19 May 1944, Page 4

SOLDIERS AND FARMS

Sir, —With reference to rehabilitating ex-servicemen on the land I would like to state my own experience in this disheartening and disappointing project. In two months I have inspected between 30 and 40 farms for sale and I have found most of them grossly misrepresented, over-priced, with low butterfat returns and mortgaged to the hilt. From an economic point of view they were pure rubbish, that would not be advertised except under the caption “Suitable for Soldier.” Yet the State Advances are blamed for not allowing men to buy these so-called “farms” when they would only walk off them again, beaten financially and physically. Personally, I have found the officers of the State Advances very helpful and any advice they have given me has been sound. The fault does not lie with them. Why does not the Government amend the Land Sales Act and publicly announce that any vendor has the right to withdraw if an agreement cannot, be reached with regard to the price of the land. This would enable the ex-serviceman to really talk business with the vendor. Then, and then only, would we have good-quality, high-producing farms

on the market, with a chance for theapplicant to pay for his farm and make a decent living.—l am. etc., FARMER EX-SERVICEMAN.