STATE ADVANCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 293, 8 December 1923, Page 15

STATE ADVANCES.

HALF MILLION A MONTH PAID. DOUBLING PREVIOUS RECORD, j LOAN'S FOR WORKERS' HOMES, j (By Telesraph.-rress Association.) j WELLINGTON. Friday, j In a statement regarding the progress j f t he State Advances Department in , r»_rd to loans for housing and other i Eposes, the Acting-Minister ot Finance , !_2 Hon. Downie Stewart i stated to- \& that the figures to the end of ■ Vovember showed that astonishing work i_s being done by the Department. Money was being paid out at the rate of fver half a million a month. Since last inril practically £3.000.000 had been paid ' mt-While £2.380.000 had been advanced .-.-.•the whole of the last financial year, fe fully anticipated that for the current ye ar the total loans will approximate 5.000.000. ~._.,..* •The fiimres showed, said the Minister, that for the specific purposes of erecting homes for workers since the new A*t «_, passed the sum of _516__0 had been aathorised. as against £337.570 last year. Jor the purchase of homes, the amount actually paid over during the same four months' was £501.110. of which £290.950 was for the erection of homes, and £204,160 for the purchase of homes. This disparity was increasing each month. The average loan made by the Department for the erection of each worker's home was £759. which was evidence of the care being exercised to prevent undue inflation both in land and buildings since the increased lending facilities were The total amount paid over dnrin- the last eight months for the erection and purchase of homes, and to repay existing mortgages, amounted to __H5.."i"4. Over £42.000 had been lent to local bodies for erecting workers' dwellings- ' Evidence of the assistance rendered to those borrowers who are paying high rates of interest on their loans was. said the Minister, afforded by the fact that £025.350 had been advanced for repayin" existing mortgages. The provision for loans on chattel security was also being availed of. and £.32.660 had been advanced for this purpose. ''These fiimres," he added. "furnish eloquent testimony to the vigorous manner in which the policy laid down by the Act is being carried out. and I receive frequent testimony to the splendid work being done by the Department."