LAND LEGISLATION.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17662, 13 August 1929, Page 5

LAND LEGISLATION.

THE PROPOSED BILL

LOCAL COMMITTEES FAVOURED.

THE GOVERNMENT’S DECISION

It will be remembered that a short time ago. a local committee spent a great deal of time and went to some trouble to place before the Minister of Lands, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, the amount of idle land available as run-offs or for settlement on the Coromandel Peninsula. The committee duly waited on the Minister with plans showing such areas available, and stressed the necessity for something to be done very shortly. The sympathies of Paeroa, Waihi and Coromandel townspeople, was sought, and their co-operation obtained, so that the Minister expressed himself as much impressed with the representations, and also with the suggestion put forward that local corpmittees should confer with the officers of his Department in the matter of selecting areas for occupation. That the Minister has acted upon this advice is apparent in the following article, which tells of the reply given by him to the New Zealand Lands Settlement and Development League, Auckland.

At the same time, it is necessary to. point out that the function of the local committee is, by no means complete. Now is the right time to again press upon the Government the necessity for opening up the areas already alluded to, and if this is not done the district representations will come to nought.

The city members of the League, of which there is a majority, are only out to study their own ends, and every effort should be made by this district to hold its end up, else there is danger in its being overlooked.

Provision will be made m the proposed land legislation for the constitution of a Land Development Board, and for local advisory committees, states the Minister of Lands, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, in a letter to the New Zealand Lands Settlement and Development League. Much importance is attached by the league to the Government’s decision. At a meeting at Auckland the president, Mr. \V. J. Hoi df, worth, said there was much scope in the Dominion for the proposed hoard, and the principal interest at the moment was in regard to the personnel. Expert farmers and commercial men, Mr. HcldsWortli suggested, should he included.

It was the opinion of the league that the Government had made a wise decision in including in the Budget

provision for the expenditure of £5,000,000 to promote land settlement, continued Mr. Holdsworth,. That decision had been in accordance with a promise of the Prime Minister on June 5. Virgin Lands First.

“We make one important reservation,” he said, “and that is that sufficient prominence is not being given to the development of lands at present producing nothing. They are a matter of first importance.”

Another point for consideration, Mr. Holdsworth said, wa* that the league might utilise, as far as possible, the financial resources of the State for the purposes of land settlement, rather than the taking un of mortgages at present held by various lending institutions on. developed farms. The Prime- Minister Had stated that about 65 per cent of loans granted by the. State for rural purposes were for tlie repayment of loans. Further, fully 50 per cent of money advanced by tlie State had been used for the provision of homes for the people. Taken together, these two statements meant that practically 75 per cent of money advanced did not increase the production of the conntrv. If the State were to find money for homes, care should be taken that such homer, were provided, not in the city, hut in the rural districts.

Next Step Urgent. The league decided to urge the Government to use the financial resources of the State primarily to increase production from the soil, and to give assistance to the .settling of new men on the land, in such a way that, if reasonable care were taken, any advances could in time be repaid. Strict supervision of advances was necessary, in cases where it was considered desirable to renew or to grant accommodation to take out expiring mortgages. The amount required was to be used expressly for production, purpose*, which meant that no advances could be made where’ a borrower bad more land than lie could reasonablv deal with himself.

The meeting carried the following resolution: “That the urgency of tlie need be pointed out to the Government. in that there are large numbers of qualified men at the present moment who would nv’ke good under any wise scheme, and that.the setting up c r a. Dominion board with local advisory committees is a sten which should not be delayed. It was resolved to write to the Minister of uands conveying, so far as possible, the league’s views, and congratulating him noon the announcement made.”