EARTHQUAKE LOANS

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 209, 4 September 1935, Page 9

EARTHQUAKE LOANS

FREE OF INTEREST.

PERIOD OF THREE YEARS.

GOVERNMENT'S DECISION. (By Telegniph. —Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The Government's proposals for granting further relief to those who suffered losses in the Hawke's Bay earthquake were set out by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Coates, in the House of Representatives to-night.

Mr. Coates said that the Government had given the matter much consideration, and as a result Cabinet had decided that all loans granted under the Hawkc's Bay Earthquake Act were to be free of interest for a period of three years from September 1, 1935, but the instalments at present payable were to be continued, and those amounts, when paid, would be credited in reduction of the principal outstanding under the respective loans.

"There is one reservation," said Mr. Coates. "The first payments under the altered terms are to be applied to wipe out the interest accrued up to August 31 last, but this does not affect the major item, that no interest will be accruing as from September 1. It is recognised that even the relief now granted may not be sufficient to enable some persons to carry on, in that the instalments at present payable are too heavy, and in these cases the Government is prepared to consider them individually, and, where, necessary, to reduce the amounts payable."