SETTLING THE LAND.

Wairarapa Age, 20 March 1925, Page 2

SETTLING THE LAND.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES. FOR SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS.

In accordance with the recent announcement of the Minister of Lands (the Hon. A. D. McLeod), lands for settlement arc now being thrown open 1 to civilians and soldiers on equal terms. In the Minister’s opinion, the time has now arrived when an equal • opportunity should be given to all to participate in the land ballots, as i many young men who would have . gone to the war had they not been too young were now in want of land.

The Minister says he is now going ' to deal vftth all ballots for land under . .section 113 of the Land Act, prescribccNtho order of preference of ■ applicants at ballots, both for civilians and soldiers. Section 113, said the Minister, prescribed that applicants at ballots should have preference equally all other classes of applicants as follows: — (a) Landless applicants who hKve now one or more children dependent ; on them.

(b) Landless applicants who, within two years immediately preceding the date of the ballot have applied for land at least twice unsuccessfully.

(c) Applicants who have served beyond Now Zealand as members of a Zealand Expeditionary Force raised for military service * in connection with the wa*r with Germany. (d) Applicants who, not being members of an expeditionry force as aforesaid, were engaged on military service beyond Now Zealand in connection with the said war, if such persons immediately prior to the commencement of the war were bona fide residents of New Zealand. .

In the case of other applicants, those who are landless shall have preference over those who are not landless.

Some 22,000 acres of Crown lands are being offered for selection during the present month, including the remaining portion of the Teviot Estate, situated near Rexburgh.