FARM MORTGAGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 178, 31 July 1933, Page 4

FARM MORTGAGES.

THEIR SECURITY ASSERTED. PERSONAL ELEMENT. In an article on the subject of farm mortgages, published in the "New Zealand Financial Times," Mr. L. R. C. Macfarlanc, president of the Koyal Agricultural Society, summarises the points in favour of farm mortgages as present-day investments in the following terms: — "The security of a mortgage depends very largely on the personal ability of the mortgagor, not, as so often assumed in the past, on the judgment of the solicitor who draws out the deed. And if we need just one convincing argument why farm mortgages are the safest and most attractive form of investment to-day, we will find it in the present ability and capability of the country's landowners. Never during our short history has the land been held so continuously by the same men. During years of rising prices land has a tendency to change hands, often with disastrous effects on the purchaser, who has to learn the lesson of his new land and stock.

"The last few years lias seen a wonderful increase of production, brought about without increased capital, State aid, or outside assistance, but simply by the hard work and business ability of the present farmers. An industry that has done this, and is continuing to produce under the adverse conditions of to-day, must face the future with the certainty of success. To-day farmers know their jobs, but what is more important to the investor, they are rapidly becoming acquainted in more than a cursory way with the necessity for keeping efficient books, and buying and selling in the best market. "in short, they are now business men as well as farmers, a fact that will greatly enhance their future prosperity. "Everything points to a period ahead when this Dominion must depend largely on its own resources of capital, so it will follow that those industries—and farming is about the only one—that have become self-contained and self-reliant, will be the most successful.