Aid not general

Press, 27 February 1981, Page 16

Aid not general

The ■ old across-the-board, measures of drought relief are no more. Farmers are now being encouraged to help themselves and where they need assistance as a result of drought they will have to seek it in the way of loan assistance from the Rural Bank. The senior advisory officer with the Ministry of Agriculture in Christchurch, Mr G. H. McFadden, said this week that they had been getting quite a lot of inquiries about drought assistance. He said that the former measures had been rescinded as a result of joint discussions between the Ministry and Federated Farmers be-

cause of the inequalities that existed in the previous measures. The situation was now that individuals were encouraged to approach the Rural Bank where they needed financial assistance as a direct result of purchasing feed or the effect of drought on their farming system. The bank would treat each case on its merits. Individuals were, however, expected to help themselves as much as possible and there would be no element of hand-out or compensation for drought. Loan assistance would be offered under normal lending criteria. However, there was still provision for the spreading

of tax that accrued if farmers were forced to sell capital stock as a result of drought and were unable to replace them in the same financial year. The head office of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Inland Revenue Depart-, ment in Wellington were at present establishing procedures for applying for this tax relief and an announce- ! ment was expected in a few ! days. I A spokesman for the Rural Bank said this week .that where farmers had been ; placed in a difficult financial situation as a result of the . drought they should consult . with the bank. I