DRIFT TO THE TOWNS.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17277, 13 December 1927, Page 4

DRIFT TO THE TOWNS.

yi/ARNIMG BY HON A. D. McLEOD. d , A SERIOUS PROBLEM. . The opinion .that New Zealand, in r -union with other countries, must, srV:in Uic next few years, And' a .'■•■hilion, to those economic causes ... foich were at present creating a • •v'tYil'i. io Use cities,, or else suffer dire J YOdamiW,' was expressed by the Hon. j iC l). Moo-Loci (Minister of-Industries ' find Commerce) when speaking at the Yvairarapa Industrial Exhibition, btateSi merits were made by the Minister m reply to ilgurcs brought forward by the Mayor (Mr T. Jordan) to show h o w the Wairarapa was losing a large percentage of its natural increase ot 0 r population, and and pointing out as a remedy ■closer settlement oL the lai Mr McLeod said that he had been acquainted with the concliti ;o “ v ™ n ; •ioned, wliich were not, however, peculiar to this district. He made mo egotistical statement when he said that there was nobody more with land conditions in New Zealand than himself. “What as more wan to say that never in-my whole Idoliave I known a man who had to O o through what I have, in adjusting ana ■ straightening land problems in Ins : country in the last four years. lUs J • lerions problem . that we arc faced sviUi in land settlement; and one _tna ■ W- affecting the whole ot the British Empire. and exercising, the minds ol ;. iidtsmcn.” ~ \j r McLeod went on to say that cm- . as to this was afforded by the : ;irns of the United States, which ' .(Avcd that last year 660,000 people * - :;:iL off the land, and this slate' ol - N. \irs applied also to Canada and Aua-w-iva. In areas of the East Coast of - New Zealand there was pltmty of room private subdivision, but that subdivision would have to be carried out in such a manner so that a man who ; formed it would have . a reasonable hope of making a living for himsell and family. Causes.in regain! to the 1 whole problem were economic, which this country must face within the next ... year or dire calamity would result for both residents-of country and cities.