RELIEF FOR FARMERS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 43, 31 May 1935, Page 7

RELIEF FOR FARMERS

PLANS IN VICTORIA.

NEW CABINET'S PROBLEMS,

The Victorian Government, formed by the Country Party with Labour support, has its greatest problem in rural rehabilitation, says the Melbourne correspondent of the "Auckland Herald." Its existence depends upon its successful treatment of that problem, for it was over this question and unemployment relief generally, that the Country Party split with Sir Stanley Argyle and the United

Australia Party, and went its own v way. Therefore, it has concentrated its attention during its few weeks of office on relief measures. Preparatory to deciding the details of its rural rehabilitation policy, the Government is investigating the operation of a scheme to provide long-term credit for primary pro-' ducers who find themselves in difficulties. It is examining closely legislation which has been enacted in other countries, notably the United States and New Zealand, and is also consulting financial advisers familiar with rural conditions in Victoria. In its present form the bill before the provides for nothing more pthan the machinery to enable debt compositions to be arranged between farmers and their creditors. * PROPOSED TRIBUNAL. A debt adjustment tribunal consisting of a chairman and two members is proposed to take over the functions of the Farmers' Relief Board, and a number of conciliation commissioners are to be appointed at j important country centres to assist in arranging compositions. As an in- j ducemerit to creditors to compound, payments will be made from the £2,500,000 to be advanced free of interest to the State by the Federal Government in the next two years. Both' secured and unsecured debts will be dealt with in this way. If creditors are stubborn, and will not agree to a composition or to a writing-down of liabilities to presentday values, the tribunal will be empowered to grant the farmer a moratorium. The attitude of the Loan Council has such an important bearing on the proposals that it is unlikely that the bill will be finally drafted until that body has met at the end of the month. The main desire of the Government is to provide long-term credit for the man on the land, and thus give him security of tenure, the lack of which is causing him so much uneasiness at present and is claimed to be preventing him from adopting the most effective policy for his operations. SUGGESTED MORTGAGE CORPORATION.

The proposal is to provide the necessary credit by the issue of Go-vernment-guaranteed bonds either to investors in a mortgage corporation, the subscribed capital being used to compound the farmers' liabilities, or direct to the creditors of the farmers, thus taking over the indebtedness on a composition basis. It is contended that such a procedure would free money at present frozen in land mortgages for investment in other directions, and would accelerate industry and relieve unemployment.

It is understood that the Government desires to operate the scheme through a Government institution, such as the credit foncier branch of the State Savings Bank, but if the Loan Council declines permission to raise the necessary loan other means will have to be found. Advisers of the Government contend that Loan Council opposition could be overcome by the formation of a mortgage corporation such as that provided for in the New Zealand Act.