The Daily News SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1929. LAND SETTLEMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1929, Page 12

The Daily News SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1929. LAND SETTLEMENT.

If the Minister of Lands had needed an illustration of the de-.-mand for suitable land foi’ closer settlement he might well have given the result of the ballot for the sections which were formerly part of the State. Demonstration Farm at Weraroa. For* nine sections there were 1018 applicants, who were considered eligible for the ballot by the Crown Lands Board. If suitable landseekers are prepared to follow a hundred to one chance of obtaining land from the State the special attractiveness of the property thrown open would seem worth investigation, if only as a guide to further settlement. The Weraroa property had the advantage of including some first-class as well as some average quality land, and prices were on a reasonable scale. It had been in hands, and those who took it up could be certain that it had not been exhausted before being disposed of. Access to the property was perfect, and it was close to a thriving town. It seems justifiable to assume therefore that if properties which fulfil these conditions are made available healthy progress in closer settlement is assured. It is undoubted that much first-class country is available, though the question of the price that will be demanded for it is not so easy to settle. Mr. Forbes expressed some disappointment at the result of the Government’s endeavours to obtain such land for closer settlement, and hinted that recourse to compulsory acquisition would be taken if landowners did not show more reasonableness. The question is whether land so acquired would not be too expensive for the landless man of small means, for whether acquired compulsorily or by private treaty, there must be nothing approaching confiscation of the rights of existing landowners. Any suspicion of this would be disastrous to the country’s good name and financial credit, as the State of Queensland found to its cost when its Labour Ministry endeavoured to ride roughshod over the rights of Crown lessees and other landowners. The Minister of Lands made no reference to the progress of • settlement under the Act passed by the Reform Government. whereby intending settlers might themselves arrange with a landowner to sub-divide his property or a portion of it upon a price satisfactory to both parties. If this price were approved by the Lands Department the State would purchase the property and lease or sell it to those who had negotiated with the landowners. It would seem a method worth very ■sympathetic treatment. It would avoid 100 to one chances at a ballot, with the uncertainty of the best type of settler getting the land; it would allow the personal element to be taken into consideration, often a very important factor. It is well known that a landowner would sooner sell his land cheaper to men of whose capability and character he has personal knowledge than at a higher price to strangers. The State would have the additional safeguard of knowing that the land would be held by capable settlers, many of whom would have actual experience of local conditions, find all of whom had shown some initiative in trying to obtain land for themselves. The country would also be spared the costs of obtaining land compulsorily, often the cause of a considerable increase in its cost to the new settlers. Above all, the inflation in land values which seems inseparable from any large scheme of State purchase would be avoided. That land hunger exists is undoubted, and there is ample country available to satisfy it. It only needs a journey from Taranaki to Wanganui, for instance, to convince anyone that the scope for closer settlement in the Waverlcy-Wanga-nui area is still very large. Further north, except in certain localities, holdings are frequently larger than is necessary or economical, and because of this are often unthrifty and not nearly as productive as they might be, and similar conditions apply in nearly every part of the Dominion. „ The thousand applicants who were disappointed at Weraroa might sec whether it is not possible to assist themselves in some degree by forming groups and approaching landowners personally. They would be doing their share towards the solution of a grave problem, and rendering the State some service for the assistance they desire it to give them when they have obtained the land they seek. There would be nothing spectacular about such closer settlement methods. A few side roads would represent practically all the additional public works required. If a vigorous attempt were made to exploit this method of land settlement it seems more likely that landowners would- be

found prepared to be reasonable in their demands, and the shortage of land available, of which the Minister complains, would soon cease to obtain.