RURAL RELIEFS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 171, 16 April 1931, Page 12

RURAL RELIEFS

£1,000,000 Company in Sydney ADVANCES TO FARMERS Last week a company to be known as “Rural Reliefs, Limited,” was registered in Sydney for the express purpose of assisting necessitous wheatgrowers and other farmers. The company wiU have a capital of £1,000,000. The formation of the company represents the fruits of weeks of planning on the part of primary producers, the financial institutions, and trading concerns whose chief Interests are in the country. It represents co-operative action on the part of the banking and trading organisations to supplement the assistance that is already being accorded the farming community by the Government. This action has been expedited to enable the assistance to be forthcoming in time for the sowing of the present season’s wheat crop. The proposal was originally mooted in January by the Producers’ Advisory Council, but appears to have been dropped when the Premier (Mr. Lang) announced his policy of repudiation. The president of the Farmers and Settlers’ Association (Mr. 11. K. Nock) Immediately pressed the urgent necessity for doing something along the lines suggested and the practicability of the scheme, he submitted, has, with some modifications, found acceptance. The assistance to be made available by the company need not be limited to wheatgrowers. Two classes of farmers will be excluded from the scope of its operations—those who are able to obtain assistance through ordinary channels and those who are in such a hopeless position that there is no possibility of recovery even though there mav be a substantial increase in prices for their produce and abundant harvests. Advances, it is understood, will be principally for stores, superphosphate, fuel oil, fodder, seed, and part payments on machinery. It is probable that advances will be strictly limited on the basis of prospective crop value. Motor registration and • petrol for cars are not likely to receive consideration. Sustenance allowance will probably be about £1 a week. In a circular Issued to branch secretaries by the Farmers and Settlers’ Association, It is stated that application forms for assistance should be available shortly. Committees will be appointed in country towns to assist necessitous farmers in filling in forms. The interest will not exceed 6 per cent, from the actual time payments are made, and expedition will be the aim of the board. A preferential first crop lien will be required as security. Undertakings from creditors (including mortgagees) of immunity from prosecution till the crop is gathered will be needed, as is the case with the advances by the Rural Industries Branch. The circular adds: “We are much Indebted to Mr, A. C. Davidson, general manager of the Bank of New South Wales, for the keen Interest he has taken in the scheme and the time he has given to secure the co-operation of other parties interested to bring it to fruition.”