TEN ACRE FARMS

Waipa Post, Volume 47, Issue 3385, 26 October 1933, Page 5

TEN ACRE FARMS

SCHEME DEFENDED. There have been many scoffers when the subject of the Government's tenacre farm plan was the subject of discussion, the general view taken being that the areas were too small, and therefore the plan was doomed to failure. Others contended that even if the ten-acre properties could be made available in certain suitable localities, the Government was largely to blame for not vigorously developing this method of settlement —not by acquiring large blocks of farm land and subdividing them into faimlets, but by securing hy purchase or lease portions of farms, so that a new settier under the scheme cow'.d have a reasonable prospect of making a livelihood by getting casual employment in the vicinity of his farmlet. But the Government, or rather the Lands Department and its officerr, seemed to lose enthusiasm, and after a period of keen inquiry and numerous assertions that they were ready to proceed to finality the scheme was quietly dropped. But there are still many neople who will agree that the Hon. E. A. Ransom's remarks at Pahiatua a few days ago, on this subject, prompt some comment. He is re ported as saying that " he would prefer to put men on something a bit bigger from which they could milk, say 30 cows." The Minister of Lands in this connection may have suffered from condensation, but it is opportune to observe that there ir< much more in the ten-acre scheme than the bread-and-butter aspect. In this country the more people we can get on to the land the better for our future. Even if it is not possible for a man to make an independent living off ten acres the fact that in the meantime he may be able between his farm allotment and outside employment to become a permanent member of the rural population is important. That man is an asset. Instead of being a casual labourer, he is in a fair way to becoming a landholder, with a stake in the country. From that point of view the extension of the ten-acre scheme is desirable. We quite agree with M-* Ransom that 30-cow allotments would ensure a great degree of self-suffi-ciency, bulb the cost to many of those we would like to see on the land is a deterrent.