SMALL FARMS IN THE OHURA

Taranaki Daily News, 2 December 1933, Page 12

SMALL FARMS IN THE OHURA

MINISTER FAILS TO EXPLAIN. DISSATISFACTION OF RATEPAYERS No reply has been received by the Otangiwai -.Ratepayers’ Association from the Minister of Lands explaining why small farms in the Ohura have been rejected after being passed by the local committee. The association will reopen the matter. Mr. Barry said he had been told by responsible persons that they were very pleased the association had taken up the matter. They considered it was a thing that should be taken up by all local bodies. All. small farms passed in the district had been treated the same way. There was only one that had been settled and the man on that was brought in from outside. Yet in the Te Kuiti district, only a few miles away, about 13,000 acres had been taken up under the scheme. There was something holding it back in the association’s district. Mr. G. Rhynd said it had been reported that men would not be considered for the scheme unless they had some capital. It seemed queer when it was supposed to be for the unemployed. “Even the local committee in charge of the scheme in this district cannot get any satisfaction from Wellington,” Mr. Barry said. “It is only common decency that the department should reply to the association’s letter, and we should keep on writing until it does reply.” Mr. Barry said a certain man .applied for three different sections in the district He was turned down every time. He wrote to the member of Parliament and he probably did his best for the man. The man then wrote to the member for Waitomo. The result was he had a section straight away in the Waitomo and was moving into it immediately. It was resolved that the secretary again write to the Minister of Lands asking for a reply to the previous letter.