LAND SETTLEMENT

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19661, 22 August 1935, Page 8

LAND SETTLEMENT

MOTIVE POWER OF SCHEME

WAIKATO SOCIETY'S REQUEST.

ADDITIONAL HUTMENTS -REQUIRED

What is the driving force behind this land settlement scheme? Who are taking all the trouble in strictly honorary roles to settle on the land men who are not well equipped with the material goods of the world and for whom the land is the only hope left to them? Are the men responsible mere philanthropists or business men who see substantial profits ahead of the land settlement scheme? These questions naturally arise when considering the proposals of the Waikato Land Settlement Society and the answer to them, while perhaps, they may leave the questioner -a little puzzled, yet reveal the fact . that there are men In the world prepared to make use of their surplus and therefore useless wealth to enable less fortunate fellow beings to regain their character and -confidence by giving them the opportunity of wresting a livelihood from the land. In an endeavour to widen its scope further the Waikato Land .Settlement Society has communicated with the Unemployment Board with the hope that the board will see fit to erect 24 hutments, 12 on the Society’s block of land at Rolorangi and 12 at Wharepapa,' in order that relief -workers might have the opportunity'of learning the rudiments of ' farming. At the present time 12' additional cottages erected by the Society for the purpose of housing men employed in extra labour at Whatawh-ata are occupied with' unemployed. The hutments, which it .is hoped .the Unemployment Board will erect, will.remain the property of the board, but will be able to be shifted away when this is required. In . the meantime the unemployed will be used for additional: labour, but it is hoped to draw from them prospective settlers when the Society opens new .areas, while many of the -men will be found’work on farms. It is anticipated that as soon as any are found work other unemployedwill be given-the opportunity to study farming arid thus have a constant 'stream, of men passing through the • - Waikato Society’s areas. ; ’ ..' ’ Even when a .-particular man has been found employment' it is the intention of'the society’s officials to keep in communication with‘both the employer and the employee and thus stabilise confidence between employer and employee. If the society finds that a farm b'y reason of dirty cowsheds or the like ’is not provirig congenial to its trainee then ' it' will endeavour to persuade the farmer to improve his farm and thus encourage the trainee to greater efforts. As yet the Waikato Society has not received a definite affirmative reply to its proposal from the Unemployment Board, but it is extremely hopeful that a favourable reply will be received. It is the considered opinion -of the founder of the Waikato Land Settlement Society, Mr D. V. Bryant, that the greatest success of its settlement schemes can only come by honorary efforts. “I look forward to the future," Mr Bryant told -a Times representative, "when people will -come forward and offer their services free of charge, when wealthy men will offer their services and surplus money in this great enterprise.” The work was not mere philanthropy, stated Mr Bryant, but a sound business proposition. Was It not considerably better to have the gratification of seeing one’s money utilised for the alleviation of human suffering than to possess huge sums of useless money and to be burdened with the worry that this entailed? The worry of maintaining capital and adding to it could be entirely dispensed with arid the liability converted into an asset -by diverting all surplus money into worthy channels. Apparently then, the secret of the Waikato Land Settlement Society is the endeavour to put into action the thought that the greatest happiness comes from making others happy. The men behind the movement are not thinking of pecuniary gain, but rather are bent on seeing their efforts and monijy diverted to a worthy -cause, their reward coming from the contentment and gratification that this .practice will bring.