DETERIORATED LANDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 39, 16 February 1939, Page 5

DETERIORATED LANDS

CONFERENCE AT WANGANUI CERTAIN ACTION SUGGESTED THREE GLASSIFICATIONS OB’ HILL COUNTRY At a conference of delegates from county councils between Rangitikei and Eltham, held at Wanganui yesterday, certain action to cope with deterioration of land was proposed. It was embodied in the following resolution:— “That the Government be requested to undertake a comprehensive survey of the broken hill country in the Clifton, Ohura, Whangamomona, Stratford, Eltham, Patea, Waitotara, Waimarino, Wanganui, and Kaitieke counties and classify it, according to its quality, into: (1) Land that can be permanently held in production. (2) Marginal land that can be held with some measure of assistance. (3) Areas that have gone, or will eventually go, out of production. “That with respect to class three, a policy of gradual abandonment oi the areas should be adopted and the land either planted with exotic trdes or allowed to revert to native forest.” The following county councils were represented:—Stratford, Mesrs J. C. Best and C. W. Vickers; Wanganui, Messrs. W. Craig and A. H. Collins; Patea, Messrs. W. G. Belton and F. K. Pearce; Eltham, Messrs. A. G. Campbell and P. Brown; Waimarino, Messrs. D. F. Scarrow and A. Mabbott (county clerk); Waitotara, Messrs. W. Morrison, L. T. Jones and T. Alexander. There were also present Messrs. A. F. Waters, Commissioner of Crown Lands, New Plymouth; Mr. P. Clay, chief surveyor, New Plymouth, and F. H. Allen. Wanganui. Mr. Morrison presided. Mr. Morrison quoted figures to show the position in the Waitotara County. There were areas in the back land opened up 20 or 30 years ago, bush felled, and improvements made. All went well for 10 or 12 years but subsequently the land had been going back and the occupiers were able to carry on only by Government assistance. He quoted figures to show the extent to which the value of these lands had slumped. The general rates from these areas were now £454, while maintenance of roads cost £lOOO, and one year the cost to repair flood damage was £6OOO. It wa a question whether these areas should not be shut up. “We realise we have to go to the Government with some constructive plan to meet this difficulty,” he said. He thought they might get somewhere as the Government had pro-

mised to set up a commission at which the farmers and others could state their case. Patea County Mr. Belton said what Mr. Morrison had mentioned applied also to the Patea County. In some districts it would take a rate of 6ld in the pound to keep the roads going, values having gone down in some instances by half. The question from a county council point of view was very serious. From one area the Patea County was receiving £214 in rates, but it cost £BOO a year to maintain the road. This class of land had not received fair treatment for the last 20 years from any Government. The good country had to carry the roads in the bad areas. Mr. W. J. Polson, M.P., had suggested that the Government should take over the whole of the deteriorated land. Wanganui County Mr. Collins said that fortunately the problem did not affect the Wanganui County nearly as much as the Patea and Waitotara Counties. Probably there were only from 8000 to 10,000 acres which had deteriorated to any serious extent in the Wanganui area, but this had come about mainly by mismanagement. It was a wellknown fact that the bulk of the best breeding ewes came from the backblocks; and this helped to make the problem all the more serious. “Deteriorated” the Wrong Word Mr. Pearce said he had held a place in the .Waitotara Valley for years. He did not like the use of the word deteriorated. He did not think that a farm which had been farmed correctly did deteriorate. He quoted figures showing the cost of growing wool, and pointed out that the whole of this expenditure (including labour), would be on New Zealand, while wool was something that would be sold in any part of the world. He did not think that it would be good policy to throw much of the deteriorated land out of cultivation. Some of the worst of it possibly could be shut up, but much of it could be made payable.

Mr. Alexander said he was satisfied that sandstone land was not worth farming unless it had been farmed properly in the first place. It would be better for the Government to give the occupiers of the back country in the Waitotara district the present-day valuation of the land and shut it up. The saving of the cost to the Government and the local bodies of maintaining the roads in these areas would more than pay compensation to the occupiers. Soldier Settlements Mr. Scarrow referred to the soldiers’ settlement in the Ruatiti settlement and the way the land had in many instances deteriorated under inexperienced farmers. He thought a lot of this land could be brought back if the Government took it over. Mr: Mabbott said the position In the Waimarino County was that they could not raise sufficient revenue to maintain the roads in certain ridings, on which it was stated the Government had spent nearly £250,000, while the council had expended £15.000 on metalling. A large sum of money would have to be paid on this land to make it payable. The first essential was that the rates should be paid, and this could not be done unless the land was occupied and made reproductive. The scheme that the land should be taken over by the Government and closed was so big that he did not think any Government would be prepared to face it. Problem of Hill Country Mr. Jones said he represented the particular area in the Waitotara County most concerned. He agreed with Mr. Belton that some system of I

classification should be adopted. He suggested that it would set up a commission to classify this land into three sections. No sensible man would go out to work on this land and climb up and down hills when there was much more attractive employment elsewhere. This meant that these property owners were saddled with extra labour costs. The question of subsidising labour for the farmer was a difficult one. It was no use subsidising such labour unless the money

was spent to advantage. He was satisfied a lot of the land in his district could be brought back to carry a sheep to the acre. He said there should be a more equitable system of rating for such areas. Mr. Craig (Wanganui County) thought it would be a good idea if the Government put on a number of unemployed men on these deteriorated lands. Mr. Vickers said that in the meantime they were only wasting the time of men who were endeavouring to get. a living on the deteriorated land. Areas of Noxious Weeds Mr. Allen said there were enormous areas of noxious weeds in the Wanganui district, not only ragwort and blackberry, but what was even worse, barberry. These noxious weeds were a menace to every settler in the Wanganui River. In the earlier days the settlers used to grow wheat or) land now covered by blackberry. He thought the State should take up the matter of reafforestation. He said there were many settlers now living in hovels, while the Government were providing workers with houses in the town. All the unoccupied land should be taken over by the Government and the hill land planted. Slope and Rainfall Mr. Waters (Crown Lands, voicing his own views and not those of his department) said the opinions expressed were very similar to his own views. The problem of deterioration was largely a matter of slope and rainfall. It was, he thought, a natural process and it was not a case in which the blame could be put on the farmer. From a national point of view New Zealand should be classified. Much of this country would never be self-supporting. The time had come now to take a national stock-taking—it was an economical problem to maintain roads in much of this land. He did not think a policy of buying out the settlers on many of these sections and re-establishing them elsewhere would receive consideration. In the course of time any of this land which wAs abandoned would revert to its natural forest state. He did not think general rates were a great factor in causing farmers to abandon such lands.