LAND SETTLEMENT.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18623, 29 April 1932, Page 6

LAND SETTLEMENT.

MR D. BRYANT’S PROPOSAL FORMATION OF LOCAL BOARDS. MINISTER SYMPATHETIC. The land settlement scheme for unemployed men proposed by Mr D. Bryant, of Hamilton, has, as a result of a visit by him to Wellington last week, advanced a stage towards realisation. When in Wellington Mr Bryant had several conversations with the Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Lands, and officials of the Lands Department. Mr Bryant urged upon the Minister the necessity of introducing the necessary legislation during the emergency session. Mr Ransom indicated that he was interested in the scheme and that he would give his favourable attention to the possibility of a Bill being brought down. Mr Bryant’s original tentative proposals have now been reduced by him to a concrete basis and are as undernoted.

’’There are many people who have a few hundred pounds which they would be prepared to put into any sound sceheme for establishing suitable men on the land,” states Mr Bryant in a memorandum submitted to the Government. "Their present difficulty is how to achieve this without unnecessary worry to themselves. It seems to me that some legislative machinery should be set up to enable groups of investors to form land settlement boards and create funds for the purchase of suitable land and stock for approved men from among the unemployed desiring to take up farming.

Moderate Return for Investment.

“My scheme involves no profits beyond a very moderate return not exceeding 5 per cent, on the capital invested. Hence the boards I suggest should be exempt from taxation excepting such as would be payable by the individual subscribers on income received from the money invested by them, arid such legislation as the Mortgagors* Relief Act should not apply to such boards. Under my soheme the board of directors and supervisors should give their services free.

“My scheme does not mean purchasing large blocks of land in the wilds and making them settlements for unemployed, but rather purchasing partially improved land in settled districts where the settler might be able to obtain periodical outside employment from neighbours. “Many farmers have more land than they can handle properly, and many of them would be willing to dispose of a portion for cash, as this would ease their own burdens. Further, various Government departments such as the Public Trust Office and the State Advances Office frequently have lands for sale at lower prices than the Government has been paying for inferior land for settlement purposes, and it has always' seemed to me that there is a great lack of co-ordination between these departments and the Lands for Settlement Department in not having these lands acquired for settlement purposes instead of allowing private purchasers to acquire them at a cheap rate. The directors of the boards I suggest, being all successful farmers themselves, would have an accurate knowledge of the value of such land.

Machinery of Scheme. “My scheme is that machinery be provided to enable the establishment of boards to raise funds at a rate of Interest not exceeding 5 per cent. When sufficient funds accumulate, boards to have power to purchase land and select and place men on such land, erect buildings, and fences where necessary, purchase stock, and generally equip the property for the class of farming intended. The selected settler to be charged only the actual cost of the land and chattels, and to give the board a first mortgage of land and stock at 5 per cent, interest, and to carry out the instructions of the board’s supervisor as to the farming of the land, the board to receive the whole of the proceeds from the farm, less hare living expenses, until the settler has shown that he has the ability and experience to manage on his own account. Of course, as the settlers selected would have no money, the Government should pay out of the unemployment fund a sustenance allowance until the farm is established (say, for the first 18 months or so). The areas should not exceed 50 to 100 acres. No stamp duty to he charged to the board or anv transfer or conveyance, but this duty would be paid as soon as the individual took title. The board not to be liable for land or income tax.

Improving Trade Generally. "I contend that my scheme would absorb a lot of unemployed carpenters, painters, etc., on work on the necessary buildings, and improvo trade generally by the circulation of money in the purchase of timber and materials, and would ultimately become a permanent cure for unemployment instead of the present relief, which is not leading anywhere. “The farmer who is in financial difficulty at the present time cannot, unfortunately, take advantage of the unemployed men, inasmuch as he has no money io pay for their transport, neither has he any capital for those tilings which are essential in the development of land apart from labour. “I know myself of quite well-off farmers taking advantage of the latest scheme and getting work done o:i their farms at the expense of ttie Government, whereas if we as a land development board were given these men they could first draw their sustenance from the Government, then we as a board could give them work in tlie off days and charge tile latter to the cost of land. The whole of the unemployment tax would then ue going into a channel which would lead to the elimination of unemployment. This procedure should give the people who are actually paying the unemployment tax some encouragement to pay without making a fuss, seeing that their money Is going directly Into a channel which would lead to the elimination of unemployment, thus relieving the people of this tax, which fit many cases is causing actual hardship.”