8S ARGENTINA - MISCELIANEOUS 



I. — Bill for agriclt^tural colonization presented by the minis- 

 ter OF AGRICULTUliE, THE HON. SENOR MUJICA (jULY, IQI3). — In order 

 to attain the ends it aims at, that is to say the subdivision and sale of land 

 suited for agricultural colonies, the Government Bill makes appeal in three 

 quarters for contributions, to the State, the large landowners and the rail 

 \\ ay companies. It is greatly to the interest of both the landowners and 

 the railway companies to imite in the solution of the problem. It is ne- 

 cessary also for the Government to intervene to facilitate for the propri- 

 etor the work of subdivision of the land and its sale in lots and to guarantee 

 the seller the pturchase price and the purchaser a convenient sj'stem of 

 payment. With this object, the Bill proposes that the National ISIortgage 

 Bank should inter\'ene (i). As far as the railwa}^ companies are concerned, 

 their colonising action finds an incentive in the power that has been ac- 

 corded to the Government of expropriating in their behalf the land along 

 the lines of railways, to be afterwards allotted to colonists without any 

 immediate gain to the companies. Finally, direct colonisation b}^ the 

 State meets an immediate need in the more intensely cultivated and 

 more populous districts, and in those where the existing system of land 

 contract foments trouble between the proprietors and colonists. Let us 

 now examine more closeh' the bearing of the bill. 



State Colonisation. — It is first of all proposed that the Executive 

 Authorities should acqviire 5,000 hectares of good land b}* means of pur- 

 chase, when land held b}* co-heirs is sold at auction or by means of expro- 

 priation, in each of the following provinces, Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre 

 Rios, and Cordoba, belonging to the most fertile and wealthiest part called 

 the grain region (2). The land acuired in this way must not be more 

 then 10 kms. from a railwaj' station and must be divided into lots of not 

 more than 40 hectares in the first two of these provinces nor 80 in the other 

 two, and must be granted to the colonists at cost price increased by the 

 amount of expenses incurred. Payment of 10 % must be made at once: 

 the remainder iir fifteen annual instalments with interest at 7 %. In 

 allotting the holdings, preference must be given to farmers and among 

 these to those resident in the nearest district, and, among these again, to 

 native or naturalized citizens with the largest number of children, who 

 are Argentine subjects. In no case, ma}'' more than one holding be allotted 

 to a single person. Each purchaser shall be obliged to occupy and cult- 

 ivate his holding himself for the first five 3-ears, under penalty of annul- 

 ment of contract and loss of the instalments paid. During the above 

 period the holding acquired in this way is only transferable by inheritance. 



(i) With regard to the nature and work of this Institute, see the number of this Bul- 

 letin for January, 19 14. 



(2) See the article mentioned above in the number of this Bulletin for October, 191 3. 



