JAP AGRICULTURE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 269, 14 November 1945, Page 5

JAP AGRICULTURE

ECONOMIC FREEDOM FOR FARMERS SOUGHT AN ALLIED PLAN FOR REFORM Recd. 8 p.m. New York Nov. 12. Allied headquarters in Tokio has issued a statement that steps are being taken to liberate Japanese farmers from a condition approximating to slavery, says the “Herald-Tri-bune's” Tokio correspondent. It is understood headquarters will direct the abolition of the share-cropping system. Farmers will be permitted to pay strictly controlled money rents if they are unable to buy properties outright, instead of working merely , for a share of the crops. It is estimated that 32,000,000 Japanese are engaged in agriculture. The Government proposes to introduce at the next session of the Diet, a Land Reform Bill, drafted with Allied Headquarters aid and providing for the expropriation of nearly 7,000,-' 000 acres of tenant lands from large landowners, and a redistribution to tenant farmers, with the intention of making them peasant proprietors. About 2 000,000 acres of uncultivated land will also be expropriated for reI clamatlon. The Imperial Household’s land totalling more than 3,000,000 acres, mostly in forests, may be confisoated.