ECONOMIC POSITION

Waikato Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2587, 22 August 1922, Page 5

ECONOMIC POSITION

WHAT IS WANTED £HE SPIRIT OF THE PIONEERS "Wo hear a great deal about what could be done and what should be done to meet the present economic situation '(said Mr J. A. Young, M.P. for Waikato, in a recent speech in the House ! of .Representatives), but in my opinion what we have to do is to get down to, opening up more of our back country. must revive the spirit of the pionT eers. We have not heard so much / about the backblocks during the past year or two; our efforts have been concentrated in other directions. But we - now resume the opening-up of the back country and encourage the pion- *- fcers. That is the only way in which our country can be revived and regenerated. Wo have to get back to the spirit which actuated the early settlers in this country, the men and the women, who were not afraid to go' out into the backblocks to tackle the bush and virgin country, and who by their efforts brought that'land into a productive condition. We have had too much of the lure of the city life in recent years, and it is killing that sturdy spirit which impelled the pioneers to wrestle with nature, and to make and build homes where formerly was wilderness. There is too much of the microbe of "got rich quick," and it is killing the "spirit that filled the settlers of earlier days. The future policy of this country must be along lines of ,work for production and encouragement to the back-blocker. We must road our back country, and give every possible facility to young men to bring koiir rough unimproved land into such a ■ state that it will produce something. we go along those lines, and aid those who are already producing, and who, with encouragement, could produce more, we will do much to relieve the strain of the present situation in this country arising out of the wai\ to relieve unemployment, will do much to build up the country again and to restore it to the same prosperous condition that obtained prior to the war.