BRITAIN OF PACIFIC

Taranaki Daily News, 19 November 1934, Page 14

BRITAIN OF PACIFIC

NEW ZEALAND’S DESTINY. UTILISATION OF THE LAND. “If New Zealand is to fulfil her proper destiny in the Empire she must greatly “increase her population. This can only be done by utilisation of the good land to the fullest possible extent, and cannot be brought about without classification of the land,” said Mr. E. Newman, C.M.G., chairman of the Board of Trustees of Flock House, in a statement read in his absence at the annual meeting of subscribers to the New Zealand Sheepowners’ Acknowledgment of Debt to British Seamen Fund. “If the prices for dairy produce remain low and sheepfarming returns are maintained we shall see again the hardpressed dairymen selling their rich little farms to the more successful sheepfarmers alongside, and they, with their wives and children, will be found crowding into the already overcrowded towns. This is already in process in some parts of New Zealand. “It cannot be denied,” Mr. Newman continued, “that we have found great difficulty in obtaining suitable land for our boys. All the good Crown lands and most of the good Native lands are now privately owned, and very wisely, no doubt, in their own interests owners refuse to part with them. It is not so much a matter of price as that the land is not for sale. We have several hundreds of trainees who should be getting settled on the land. CLOSER SETTLEMENT. “Closer settlement of the good land is one of the most urgent problems of the Dominion. If we are to develop our secondary industries and make use of the great stores of power provided by electrical works, provide goods and passengers for our railways and shipping and keep the burden of taxation reasonable, and also provide for the defence country in time of need, we must have greatly-increased population. The first step in the settlement of good land to increase the country population is classification of the land on the basis of its population carrying capacity. It may be unacceptable to us as landowners, but it is, I believe, true that the day has gone by when large areas of rich land should be held by single individuals or in only a few hands. It is not in the public interest that this should be allowed. “The country population in New Zealand is decreasing instead of increasing, said Mr. Newman. “Actually ... nearly 2000 more persons left New Zealand in the last 12 months, not intending to re-

turn, than came to New Zealand to stay here.”

Mr. Newman said that there seemed to be good prospects for wool, sheep, lambs and cattle during the present year, and there was even a chance that dairy produce might improve before long, “I would advise farmers to go on producing all they can of whatever their farms produce best and cheapest,” he added, “and allow the great problem connected with quotas and controlled supply to be settled by the public men of Great Britain and the Dominion. What is most wanted is thousands of good British men and women to settle in New Zealand and make this country what it ought to be, the Great Britain of the Pacific.”