LAND PROBLEMS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 21062, 14 June 1938, Page 9

LAND PROBLEMS

To the Editor of *' The Timaru Herald ” Sir,—The Minister of Lands stated in his address at the Burns Hall, Dunedin, on the 4th inst. that many people were ruined by taking up land that had never been settled, or uneconomic holdings, and he went on to say that the country had been given a new lease of life, and the Lands Department had been compelled to pursue a policy of rehabilitation in order to salvage as much as possible of the securities in the interest of the nation. We understood when the present Government came into office, that their land policy would go back to where the late Sir John McKenzie’s policy left off. When the late Sir John held this all important portfolio of land administrator, he had two land valuations to deal with, namely speculative and productive value. Since the Labour Party came into office they have no less than five distinct valuations, all functioning for different purposes, and the hard-earned practical knowledge is being discounted for theoretical practice—a system which is economically unsound and must lead to financial ruin. I maintain the future outlook for the Dominion’s primary industry never looked worse than it does to-day. No one can deny the fact that the “writing is on the wall,” that too much theoretical interference in land problems must throw the whole of the Dominion's economic system out of gear. Industrial unrest and strikes must come, but they will not remedy the evil. The incoming year can look for a reduction cf three to four million in our flock sheep. • The wheat return is easy to forecast, and butter and cheese likewise. For every farmer that is producing to the maximum, two are only producing what they can handle within themselves or a minimum of labour. No one can deny the fact that this theory system in connection with land affairs is responsible for making the 100 acre farm (what farmers term to be the safest bank on earth) an uneconomic unit. It is little use the Minister of Lands endeavouring to cloud the issue by telling us it is the quality of the land that hat brought about this sad state of affairs. I am prepared to say under present conditions, the time is not far distant when the 150 to 200 acre farms will become uneconomic. The present system can be carried on until our primary industry will become the secondary industry. We will then realise the meaning of poverty. No man is qualified to hold a portfolio of Minister of Lands unless he has the qualifications of practical farmers. We want something more than the quoting of figures from the Year Book to evolve sane land administration. In conclusion, I say the next slump will not come from the price level of primary products, but it will come from a slump in bulk primary production.—l am, etc., TRUE BRITISH. Timaru, June 13.