LAND SETTLEMENT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14073, 3 December 1909, Page 3

LAND SETTLEMENT.

CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS. Speaking on 'the Financial Statement, -Mr -Massey said:— 1 believe tl|e prosperity of the country depends on successful-settlement; but if we are to have successful settlement, the conditions must b6 favourable from every point of view. The conditions must Ue favourable from the point of view of the land and of the settler, and if they are not favourable in both instances we shall have other failures to add to the* long list of failures already recorded. As a practical man I have been astounded at times at the extraordinary opinions we have heard m the House, and sometimes outside of it, in regard to laud settlement. W'e have heard it said —and it is a common saying now- —tiiat it is necessary to have tne leasehold in order to proVitle land lor tljo people wlio want,c. Now, what difference docs it make to tne man wno is not on the i a ml wnetner tiiose on it occupy it on leasehold or lreehold tenure.- The uict of the tenure does not give one additional incn ol land. It is the must utter claptrap, and yet wo hear it repealed over auu over again in tlie xlouse. And tueii we near members ~110 coil not, neither uo they sjJin, talking aoouo tlie' proms ol diiiry-iai-uunti and the beauties 01 slieeplarnnug. The honourable gentlemen «no e.vpress cliose opinions are prooably better occupied in milKing tlie otate cow or shearing the innocent elector. This sort of thing has done iiiid is doing a tremendous amount ot narin. When a man has done his duty 10 his country, when he has been a good settler, when lie has gone out, and carved cut a home for lnmself he is reviled and vihlied; and ib is no wonder if under such circumstances they lose conlideuee in the country to winch tljev belong, and begin to look with wistful eye on other countries where the. land-nationalisers cease from troubling and the settler is at rest. This sort of thing has been and is inducing men with nsing families to <'o to other countries, instead ol keeping their families and their capital in this country to which they rightly belong. I say this: that when a man is benefiting his country by raising products, and indirectly ior the benefit of the country—that man should be encouraged rather than harassed and discouraged as we have been inclined to Harass and discourage him uv oiu- legislation in recent years. It is* our dutv to find land lor all those who requite it, and to settle them on unoccupied land if it is possible. Vvhen a farmer has a field winch is lyiug waste and unoccupied, what does he do- The first tl.mg he does is to make arrangements lor bringing that held nto cultivation. He does not devote his time and energy to the paddocks s&t are productive, but be never rests till he has made productive the land t at was lying idle. That is ""hat wo ought to do with this country *e« s„ B „f >«.k..-.». ...»> ..".«■« »■»" "-"^ | M , finally settled. because < " stances and coud.t:;,ns change, . I •_ land laws must change. «ill. t ' ciimstancoK and conditions. What u

have to do is'to give oonlidcnoo to the man on the land. Wo have to provide by our louislntion tlv.it there shnll bo neither renizgregatinti on the < lie hand nor too much subdivision on i !).■• other, and we should'have no difficulty in doing both.