SOLDIER SETTLEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 233, 1 October 1932, Page 11

SOLDIER SETTLEMENT.

DISASTROUS EXPERIENCE.

COMMISSION'S ADVICE.

TRANSFER OF ADMINISTRATION.

The handing over to the State Advances Office for administration of the farms and dwellings securities of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Account, totalling approximately £12,000,000, is recommended by the National Expenditure Commission. A similar recommendation was made by the Economy Commission in 1921.

Dealing with this subject the commission says: —"It has been the policy for some considerable time to restrict advances for the purchase of properties, both rural and urban, to the cases of T.B. and badly disabled soldiers. Advances arc, however, still being made to discharged soldiers who have been placed on rural land, to assist in effecting improvements or in purchasing stock and implements for their holdings. Having placed the soldiers on the lai.d on the understanding that advances will lie made for stock and improvements, it lias not been possible up to the present to discontinue advances for this purpose. We are of opinion, however, that every effort should be made tc curtail these advances in the future, particularly in view of the facilities which exist through other channels for financing settlors whether they be civilians or discharged soldiers.

"Through the operation of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act the Lands Department has developed along the lines of a huge financial institution which was not contemplated when the Department was constituted. We reiterate that there are too many Government lending institutions, and every effort should be made to co-ordinate the lending of public money by tho Various Departments. No opportunity should be lost of minimising the number which have authority to make advances. "The experience of tho Department in so f*r as the settlement of discharged soldiers is concerned has been disastrous, but it has been paralleled by the experience of other countries, where huge losees have been incurred in the repatriation of discharged soldiers. "Under the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Amendment Act, 1923, provision was made for the revaluation of soldiers 1 holdings, and, in all, tho sum of £7,020,254 was written off on account of this revaluation. It also appears certain that there are many unrealised losses which will ultimately have to be taken into account, as the balance-sheet as at March 31, 1931, discloses the value of. properties acquired by the Crown awaiting disposal as £374,716 and the value of properties in course of realisation as £197,488. ' Furthermore, the accounts disclosed that a large amount was outstanding on account of interest and instalments of principal, while postponements' of interest and principal were also heavy. The amounts actually postponed under the above headings at March 31, 1931, total £447,271, and the accounts for 1931-32 will disclose a much larger figure. No doubt tho present depression js largely responsible for this position." The commission also recommends that every effort be mado to curtail advances for stock and improvements, in order that the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Account may be liquidated as soon as possible.