ARREARS OF RENT.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20249, 29 May 1931, Page 10

ARREARS OF RENT.

embarrassed crown tenants. LAND BOARD'S POLICY. From one very important source the Government' is receiving much less" in revenue this year than in ordinary times—the leasing of Crown lands. Farmers, in many cases, are simply unable to pay their rents, and the Land Boards arc granting postponements on application. So many lessors are embarrassed at present by the serious falling-oil in their income that the Canterbury Land Board has found it necessary to depart from the usual routine of monthly meetings and arrange an intermediate one for Thursday and lYiday of next ■vreek. Until the onset of the depression the average number of applications dealt with monthly was 100 to 120; at its last meeting the' Board considered 184 cases, only 42 being ordinary applications.

At one time the Board meetings were always open to the Press, the principal business then being the granting of new leases or transfers of old ones. Now very much of the Board's business is necessarily of a private nature, .and a re* port of the decisions made at meetings is suppUed to the newspapers at their conclusion. ... , In some of the applications which come before the Board, as long as two hours is oeoupied in obtaining the data required, before any concession can bo considered. Late with. Remittances. Lessors of Crown lands pay their rent twice annually, . and when the halfyearly remittance falls due ana it is not received by the Department, after the lapse of a certain period it acts to the manner of an ordinary creditor and attaches notes to the accounts which in creas j in insistence in accordance with the lengthening of the P°"od of default. After a number of these the lessor usually asks for relief. In most cases a remission of portion of the rent is applied for, but in Canterbury the Land Board usually grants only a postponem The Act' specifically states that an applicant for a remission ofxentniußt be unable to pay for sonur sufficient cause, frequently the application is for a. postponement until after the next returns come in, when the lessor is again in a position to pay. , . , No reductions in rent are being laade, as the leases in Canterbury nearly all have a term of 21 years, and in .the ease of those wliich have several years - to run, it is contended such a concession would bo out of all reason should the prices of produce show a substantial rise shortly. ■ .; A proportion of the applications to. the Canterbury Land Board are for reductions in interest instalments, these eases being in respect of advances under the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act The position of such farmers is very -Similar to. that pf they arj> treated tho "same. , . , Forms are supplied .to applicants, and they fill them in, giving particulars of their returns and the reasons for their failure. ' Cases of imposition occasionally occur, but little ■ consideration, is given to applicants living at an extravagant standard.; ■■ ■■ 1