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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No. 7. April, 17 1974

Indebtedness

Indebtedness

Each settler family on acceptance of resettlement in the scheme was given an imaginary loan of $15,000 to $25,000. A certain acreage of land was allotted to each of the families, usually about seven acres. This allotment is more or less on a temporary basis in the sense that if the land is neglected that family will be asked to leave the scheme to make way for another peasant family, without any form of compensation for the work already done on the land. Usually, none of the plots are neglected because after being landless for generations, each peasant family is determined to take the land for keeps. Being landless and poor all their life, they accepted the imaginary loan without much complaint. According to this imaginary loan system, each family will be given a monthly allowance of $70.00, land measured by any standard, this is far below the poverty line). Out of the $70, they have to contribute 50 cents to "seedlings", and $1 to "co-operative society" in the scheme. Still the settlers remained and worked on the land without fuss because they were promised that when the land became successful, they could earn at least $300 to $400 per month. With these earnings, if realised, they can afford to give a decent life to their family, and there will be surplus for them to pay the imaginary loan. In time, they were promised, the land would be theirs.