BACK COUNTRY TRIALS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19844, 19 May 1927, Page 8

BACK COUNTRY TRIALS

DETERIORATED LANDS PROBLEM REQUEST FOR GOVERNMENT AID New Zealand’s deteriorated lands, the management of which at present constitutes one of the biggest problems with which the country is faced, was the subject of a conference of County Council representatives from Waitomo in the North, to Rangitikei in the South, as well as members of Parliament, who met in Wanganui yesterday in an endeavour to find some solution of the question, particularly from the point of view of roading facilities. After consideration the conference decided to ask for a Government subsidy of £1 for £1 for the maintenance of the roads giving access to the deteriorated lands, the request to be made to the Prime Minister (Hon. J. G. Coates) by representatives of County Councils and members of Parliament, sometime in June.

There were present at the conference Mr W. Morrison (Waitotara County Council) in the chair, and Messrs F. M. McKain (Waitomo County Council), A. B. Harris (Waimarino County Council), H. A. Bower (Clifton County Council), J. W. Grieve and B. Larsen (Inglewood County Council), A. W. Babbage (Kawhia County Council), A. McWilliam (Eltham County Council), G. A. W. Williams (Hawera County Council), D. Sutherland (Patea County Council), Gregor McGregor (Wanganui County Council), N. R. Cleland (Whangamomona County Council), W. A. Veitch, M.P., and J. C. Rolleston, M.P. Apologies for absence were received from Mr D. S. Reid, M.P., H. G. Dickie, M.P., and E. Walter (chairman Stratford County Council). Upkeep of Roads. The chairman. Mr W. Morrison, said that some counties were much worse off than others as far as deteriorated lands were concerned. Seeing that the Government was so sympathetic in the matter, the conference proposed to ask for assistance, as roads were becoming harder to make and harder to maintain. Counties had had to strike higher rates, and still they were in difficulties. Furthermore, good land was being penalised in order to give relief to the land that was not so fortunately placed. He instanced the case of the Ahuahu Road in the Waitotara County, from which the rates available for maintenance amounted to £264, after deducting the hospital subsidy and administrtion charges. They kept two surfacemen on the road, whom they paid 14s a day each, and that meant an annual cost of £436 13s 6d. It would be seen that they were spending a great deal more money than they were receiving from the land in rates. The position generally was getting worse every year. Countries were asking for a revaluation and in some cases were getting reductions of as much as 50 per cent., but the trouble was that the deteriorated lands were not returning in rates anything like enough to keep the roads in repair. If, where they were rating on the unimproved value they put the rate up to the limit they would not get anything like sufficient revenue. It seemed to him that the Government would have to find some way of giving relief. The chairman suggested that they might widen the scope of the conference so that they could discuss the matter of deteriorated lands from all angles. They knew there was a Government Commission working on deteriorated lands in the district, and the conference might be able to throw some fresh light on the question which might be of use to the commission.

The Chairman’s Suggestion. A vote of the meeting was taken and was unanimously in favour of treating the matter from the wider viewpoint. The chairman then moved the follow-, ing motion: — That with the view of helping back-block settlers, this conference urges upon the Government to give special subsidies to counties who have large areas of deteriorated lands. The subsidy to be on the basis of £1 for £1 on the cost of maintenance of the roads giving access to deteriorated lands; and further that a deputation from this conference, wait upon the Prime Minister, in support of this resolution. Mr A. W. Babbage in seconding, said that the trouble was that the cost of production had gone up so high that the lands in question could not be worked. The cost of marketing wool in London in 1914 was £2 14s a bale; the price per bale was £l9, and the net return £l6 6s. In 1926 the marketing cost had gone up £3 17s sd, while the price per bale had dropped to £l5, leaving a net return of £ll 2s 7d. The speaker said that the deteriorated land was not dairying land and was not fattening land. It was land on which store sheep and store cattle had to be run, and a bullock in 1914 was worth £8 as against £6 5s in 1926. Similarly, the rates on the speaker’s land had risen from £9 19s 2d in 1914 to £5O in 1926. They would see that the biggest increase was in the rates. Unless they could’get the rates brought down the position would shortly be impossible, and a great number of settlers would have to go off their land. Plight of the Settlers. Mr B. Larsen, clerk of the Inglewood County Council, thought they should embody in the resolution a request to the Government that it form and metal roads in settled areas, out of the public revenue. On a certain area in his county it would mean that the’ settlers would be simply driven off if the extra burden of forming and metalling roads vyere forced on them. Mr J. W. Grieve, of the Inglewood County Council, said that bracken and manuka were the two greatest problems in the back country of his district. The settlers had gone as far as they could in the direction of rating’ themselves. There was some land in his county which was good enough for milking purposes but it was being killed by having to carry the burden of the poor land.

Mr A. Me. William said that he represented the “Cinderella” of the Eltham County —the Omona Riding. By next year they would have a metalled road 30 miles into the back country from Eltham, but for this they had rated, themselves to the full. In fact they could not go any further. He had just learned from the county clerk that next . year there was available for maintenance work in the riding only £275. With

this amount they had to deal with 26 miles of main road and 16 miles of side roads, 22 miles being metalled. Regarding the metalling work in the Omona Riding Mr Me. William said that they had been treated most generously by the Government and subsidies in some cases had exceeded £1 for £l. Mr G. A. W. Williams referred to a drop of 20 per cent in the revaluation of the back country behind Hawera. Mr D. Sutherland, who represented the Kapara Riding of the Patea County, gave figures showing the high rate of maintenance which had to be met in respect of that back-country area. Maintenance for the riding roads last year was £1852, special works cost £126, the riding’s quota of the antecedent liability £2OO, a debit balance from the previous year of £l9l, making a total of nearly £2400. The transfer from the general account was under £l7OO, leaving a debit balance of £7OO. Proceeding, Mr Sutherland instanced cases of revalutations of land in the deteriorated area. One property valued at £2OOO now down to £3O, another £2,400 was now £6OO. Nothing less than a £.l for £1 subsidy would be any good. Costs of Production. Mr T. W. McKain said the deteriorated land question affected the Waitomo County a o considerable extent. He said that the settlers were fighting against the high rate of living and the enormous cost of getting land into condition fit for farm production. The county had to pay heavily on its main road, to the detriment of the secondary roads which were going back to what they were before—mud.

“This is a matter that has been occupying the attention of the Whangamomona County Council for a number of years,” said Mr N. R. Cleland. “The wtyjle of our land is back country, and the few good farms in the area will soon be taxed to such an extent in order to carry the burden of the poorer land that should assistance Be not forthcoming it will be impossible to hold the good farms. ’ ’ Proceeding, Mr Cleland said that he knew settlers who had been 30 years on their farms and still had no metalled road. He referred to one farmer who had been 25 years in the district, who paid £9O in rates last year and still had a mud road.

Mr H. A. Bower thought they should ask for a little more than £1 for £l.

Mr A. Stuart said that the Rangitikei County was not affected by the deteriorated lands question, but they appreciated the difficulty which the other counties were in. However, the conference must be careful not to ask the Government for too much as the application would apply from one end of the Dominion to the other. He pointed out that in many cases settlers were getting the land practiceally given to them. He could say this from his knowledge as a member of the Wellington Land Board. “You have got a good case if you don’t press it too far,” he said. Mr Stuart said that the Rangitikei County was only getting the £2500 subsidy, which was a “flea bite” in such a large area. Mr Cleland: Perhaps you don’t want it! Mr J. C. Rolleston, M.P., assured the conference of his support. Belief for Settlers. Air O. Gardner, district land valuer, offered a suggestion at the invitation of the chairman. He thought that if the conference dealt with the question of deteriorated Lands generally, before voting on the motion, they might be able to arrive at some scheme whereby the settlers could be put in such a position that they would be able to pay their rates without sacrificing the production from their farms. Apparently much of the deteriorated lahd was not paying its way to the extent that the settlers could pay their rates and make a living at the same time. He asked whether it was wise from the point of view of the Dominion’s welfare, to keep men on land that would not pay its way at all. The suggestion might be made that this land be transferred to the Public Service and make the men public servants. The chairman thought that while they were unanimous they should deal with the resolution before the meeting and the resolution was then put and carried unanimously.

Speaking on the proposal to ask the Government to make and metal roads, Mr Gregor said that in the riding which he represented, they had no roads, but he thought they should stick to the oneresolution, and concentrate on that. Messrs Larsen and Williams pointed out that in some cases where the difficulty was that there were no formed roads at all, the resolution would be an anomaly in that there were no roads to maintain. The chairman said that the feeling of the meeting was that they keep to the one issue. Mr W. A. Veiteh, M.P., said that the position to-day was that the producers had been hit hard, but the men on the deteriorated lands had been hit harder than anyone else so that they had a claim on the sympathy of their fellowcitizens and upon Parliament. He was of the opinion that there was a limited quantity of deteriorated land which should be abandoned. He had come to the conclusion that if anyone could save the deteriorated lands it was the men who were at present on them. If they found land that by reason of its present position was valueless then it was not worth while spending money on it. In the days to come New Zealand would look to a great deal of its wealth from tho present deteriorated lands, and it

must be apparent that if the Government could spend money on such land, so that it could be kept open, then that money would be well spent. He thought assistance should be given the counties to carry the temporary load while the settlers on the deteriorated lands cleaned! up their farms and put ■ their land in something like order, j However, the trouble which New Zealand was at present undergoing was temporary. The price of money would go down; in England it was already going down. Clearly Parliament must meet tho situation, and he thought it would. Costs and Price. Mr C. L. Duigan pointed out that as far as the farm production on the deteriorated lands was concerned, the settlers had to rely almost entirely on the price of their wool clip. They could not get a sufficient margin between the store wether and tho fat wether to make ends meet. Air Duigan also said that in a great many cases grasses had been sown on the land w’hich were quita unsuitable. Mr Me. William said that the country which he represented was not quite as bad as that referred to by Air Duigan. They could rear their hoggets as well as get the return from the wool clip. Mr F. Allen said that the question was bound up to a great extent in the cost of fertilisers, and he thought the deputation should ask that the Government make some subsidy on manure freights.

Air Alexander said it was most important that when bush was felldd the land should be put down in grasses that would hold. This question was also ‘dealt with by Mr Gregor McGregor who said that the future of back block lands depended on the manner in which the bush was felled and burned and the land grassed. Further the land had to be heavily stocked. On land which he had farmed up the Wanganui Biver he had left a chain to two chains of bush along the edges of the gorges, with the result that his losses of stock had been small and slips had not been so frequent. At the conclusion of the conference a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the Waitotara County Council for taking the initiative in calling the conference. A vote of thanks Svas also accorded the chair.