120 NOTICES RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



NEW ZEALAND. 



SETTLEMENT OF DISCHARGED SOLDIERS ON THE LAND. — The Journal of Ihe'Board 

 of Agriculture. London, October 1916. 



In New Zealand the problem of lielping the discharged soldier over the 

 period of transition from military to civil life has been attacked with 

 commendable promptness and thoroughness. At the outset, owing to 

 the novelty of the work and the necessity of improvising the entire machi- 

 nery, many difficulties had to be faced. The Discharged Soldiers' Inform- 

 ation Department, the department of State specialh^ formed to deal 

 with the matter, has however surmounted most of these difficulties and 

 the work is now organized on a satisfactory basis. 



According to the first report of the department, which was issued in May, 

 its procedure is, briefly, as follows. The names, addresses and other ge- 

 neral particulars as to returning soldiers are collected before the transports 

 reach the landing ports and are registered on cards. The cards are then 

 sorted according to the various districts and a confidential schedule is 

 sent to a local committee. When the soldier is eventually discharged 

 from military service he is interviewed by an officer of the department who 

 reports any particulars which are likeh^ to be of use in finding him employ- 

 ment. With the assistance of the local committee a determined effort 

 is then made to secure employment for those who require it. 



The employment of soldiers on the land naturally forms an important 

 part of the work of the department. To meet the case of soldiers who have had 

 no experience in farming, arrangements have been made with the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture to undertake the training of a limited number of men 

 on the various State farms in general farming, dair\' farming, fruit farm- 

 ing, poultry and bee keeping, etc. It was thought that partially disabled 

 men in receipt of pensions might reasonabl}^ be expected to desire to take 

 up small sections under the land settlement scheme, for the purpose of poul- 

 try raising and other light branches of farm work, and that in these cases a 

 course of practical instruction would often save loss of time and money 

 and consequent discouragement. Up to the present time the opportun- 

 ities afforded have not been taken advantage of, the men — almost with- 

 out exception — desiring employment of an immediately remunerative 

 character. 



vState assistance to New Zealand soldiers wishing to settle on the land is 

 however by no means confined to courses of instruction . By an Act passed in 

 October 1915 and entitled the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act, 1915, 

 a discharged soldier is given a number of advantages. Under this Act land 

 may be taken up in two wa^^s. Crown or settlement land may be set apart 

 for selection only by discharged soldiers, or it may be disposed of to them 

 under special conditions. In either case the Department of Lands is empower- 

 ed to remit — wholly or in part and for such periods as it thinks fit — any 



