DANGEROUS SYMPATHY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 184, 6 August 1927, Page 10

DANGEROUS SYMPATHY.

FAILURES ON THE LAND. FUTURE OF UNSUITABLE MEN. NO ( OMPKNSA HON FROM GOVERN.MEN r. H"\. A. I). M JJ.oU's poLICY. (By TiMi'irniph. Parliamentary Reporter.) WILLING lON, Friday. Tli.it 'unpatliy would not be carried to Mi,. r-Mi-rnie point with soldier settlers «!'.. have ab-olnteU failed to make a *'" ' ' - "i farming was made very clear l.y ti- Minister of Lands (Hon. A. D. Ml.'-li m Ihmi the report on the year's " ,,|! " r 'In- Hisch.trgetl Soldiers' Settle-rn.-nt Department wiii being discussed in Hi.- 11.iu.-o of Heprcsciitativca this afternoon. Mi-' liope that, however much might h:i\c. I.eeu <|oue hy the (iovemment, the 111-i-f.iiicc -i\en .-hould not lie regarded fi« liiial. AstM expressed l>y Mr. G. W. Foil., ~ Lender of the Nationalist party. Conditions Hummed, and rather than allou thee turn t,, walk off there should !«• another revaluation. S.-wral members supported this plea, bol Mr. M. L. lapley (Dunedin North) warned them that, there was economic d.muer in granting continued aid to men who could never make good. It would be imirli wi>er, he said, to find them empliiynient in some other avenue, instead ~f wasting money to keep them f u the hind. "Tighten Up Hard." The < iovernment would not compensate -..Idler settlers or others who went off the land simply because they had not been aide to make a success of farming siid the Hon. A. D. McLeod. However,' the. (iovernment was wholly sympathetic with the soldiers, and was prepared to extend the fullest consideration to every case of hardship. Of the soldiers settled on the land (about 11,000 all told), onlv r.fioo had applied for relief. In view of inflation and other difficulties it could be rlaimed that this country had been reasonably successful in the settlement of soldiers. Comparative statistics showed that. New Zealanders had every reason to he satisfied with the success achieved. Every effort would be made to meet the difficulties that still remained to be faced. Some men were not suited for tho occupation of farming, and where assistance continued to be given to such men it had a demoralising effects on others. Men who were working their farms successfully would ask why they had to pay rates when rates were being remitted to others. There was only one way to deal with the problem, and that was to tighten up hard. Mass Representations Harmful. 'Ibis has to be done right up to the point of forfeit," declared the Minister. When it came to putting the seal on the forfeiture he hesitated a long time before ho would put t man out of a home, especially at a time like this. However, he knew that sympathy carried to extremes was causing a great deal of harm, and engendering a spirit among settlers that was not going to be for the future benefit of the country. The moment an association was formed in a district to bring about something the settlers thought they required it could safely be said that these settlements concerned would end up in trouble. When settlers commenced to press in a body they did no useful service for themselves in a general way, for it was often the case that the tight was being put upon behalf of two or three men who ought to have been out of the settlement a lon* time before. Mr. W. J. Jordan (Manukau): Does that, apply to farmers unionsT Mr. McLeod said he did not Intend to widen the scope of the discussion— but it might apply. Where an individual settler placed his case before the Department it was thoroughly investigated, and he was bound to say that the leniency and sympathy extended to the men could not he questioned by any member of the House. In saying what he did about associations, Mr. McLeod made it clear that he was not referring to the Returned Soldiers' Association, which had been of Taluable service to the Department. He was under an obligation to practically the whole of the branches of '.he R.S.A. -nis Pound of Flesh." The suggestion had been made that, in giving; relief, the first mortgage should be. written off concurrently with the writing off of the second mortgage, but bow was that going to be d*ne? The Minister said that where the Crown had advanced £2">00 on a first mortgage, and there w-re second and third mortgages, the problem was as to bow to arrive, at a fair basis. What was to be done? Someone had to deeide. and the only fair thing was to call in a valuer. There must be some basis for valuations. Tf the value was there, it mn«t belong to the first mortgagee. The Hon. D. Ruddo (Kaiapoi): That is what the soldier settlers complain of— the ntot mortyngee will do nothing! The Minister: Whv should the fi r «t do anything, if he is fully co'end' Mr. Pnddo: TTe takes his pound of flf-h. TTe has the chattel security, and has his first mortgngc, so what is th> use, of the other man trying to help him at all? "Who is to l>e the judge of what point it. can be written down to?" retorted Mr. McLeod. Mr. Rnddo: That policy will simply mean that the soldiers will have to walk o(T. That is the end of it! The Minister: I am bound to say th.nt through the action of the Crown no soldier has had to walk off. Loans wTtH yictmotit Security. Continuing, the Minister said that properties had been revalued time and time again, in cases where tho mortgage was greatly in excess of the valuation, and the mortgagee was not allowed to sell the soldier vp. The consent of the Attorney General had to he obtained before any soldier could be sold up. On ♦op nf that flie second mortagee who f d a soldier off his land had to refund the whole of the discharged so'dier money to the Crown immediately. 'I lii-re n.'ie very few- second mortgagees who foul.| do that to day. That side «,is being watched very carefully. 'I here were many soldiers on farms who had stock and station loans up to as liifh as £2000, whereas from £700 to £800 would stock the wholo property. There Wa- no possible chance of the stock end station firms, in cases where there vere second and third mortgages, hoping to carry on that, debt when it was ori\ioii= that the mortgage registered as a chattel mortgage was so much above the value of the chattels the man had i on the farm. The. great bulk of the ( Arms were meeting such eases. The , ££»dld Bot write off capiu , n

No Compensation for Failure,

Recently the attitude had been tak n |"P b.v some men that they would not , shift on to another section until the C rown paid compenaation for loans incurred on the. section the man was occupying. As Minister of Lands, he would say that compensation would not be paid. He thought there was too much behind the whole principle to give way on that point. There might be many reasons why land had not been tanned successfully, but someone had t<> decide who was at fault, and sooner or later the matter would become political, and with the thousands of Crown tenants in the country there would be a risk of injustice being done to the general taxpawer. The question of compensation could not be considered. Future of Abandoned Farms. "I realise, of course, that the matter has not been finally cleaned up," continued Mr. McLeod. "There are a number of abandoned farms on the hands <>f the Department, but I am quite sure that when better times come, and the outlook for farming improves, the great bulk of these farms will be occupied. That will be for tho benefit of the country. I want to impress on the House that the average soldier is today valued and paying rent, on a lower basis than the freeholder alongside, him. I don't think the majority of soldiers are complaining. They recognise that the country lias as much as is reasonably possible for them, and that their valuations are down to the basis of the civilian alongside, and in most cases below that."