The administration of state land development and settlement in New Zealand

Abstract

State land development and settlement as carried out in New Zealand cannot easily be defined meaningfully in a few words. At best it can only be described, for the programme is amorphous in character. It would be erroneous for example, to view it in terms of the objectives and organizational set-up of the Tennessee Valley Authority, because the programme is not confined entirely to the economic uplift of any one region in the country. It was political imperatives that initiated the programme in the first place, but inevitably a strong social and economic spill-over was produced, so that the programme is now all these things without being distinctively identified with either. The central direction of this research effort is on the politics and administration of development programme. The term politics is particularised here, and must be appreciated within an institutional framework. The writer will endeavour to discover the ecology of interdepartmental relationships, conflict, co-operation and control. Particular emphasis will be put on the kind of relationship obtaining between the department concerned with land development and settlement, and its political head - the Minister of Lands and Survey. The way the department interprets delegated authority and its accountability to organised and unorganised constituencies and the courts.