UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF SCHEMES.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 April 1933, Page 10

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF SCHEMES.

(To the Editor). Sir,—To those of us who during th© last few years have advocated some scheme or other for the solving of the unemployment problem and the relief of the distressed, the announcement which appeared in a recent issue of the Daily News and made by the Right Hon. J.G. Coates concerning the progress or success of the small farm scheme is yery welcome indeed. I venture to say that had some such scheme been put into operation in more prosperous times wo may never have found ourselves in the very awkward position we are in today. For generations past both animal and man have depended for an existence to a very great degree upon that few inches of the earth’s crust known as the soil, and it seems a very great pity indeed to see thousands of acres of what could be, with the assistance of a little brain and muscle, made firstclass land in this great Taranaki province now lying idle or producing little or none of the necessities of life. No doubt during the last few years the various schemes adopted by the Government of this country have proved a great help in finding bread for the breadless, and had those schemes been dealt with in a more unselfish manner by those people amongst the different sections of the community who are always ready to take advantage of and put to misuse the funds that have been collected by the State for the carrying out of the various schemes, such schemes might have been a far greater success. Therefore it comes as good news to read of something more permanent being done in the way of finding a home for the homeless and land for the landless. I hope that in the very near future we may see those great stretches of land throughout Taranaki dotted with happy homesteads where the now hungry families of our towns and cities will be in a position to at least produce for themselves a comfortable and noble livelihood.—l am, etc., W. HEALY. Ngaere, April 17.