TIMES OF STRESS

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 14, 18 January 1922, Page 3

TIMES OF STRESS

GOVERNMENT AND SETTLEMENT

MEETING THE FAILURES.

Methods by which the Crown may deal with soldier settlement land, which may come back into its hands, are contained in the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Amendment Bill, which was introduced in the House of Representatives last night. The Bill provides machinery for dealing with land acquired by the Crown and in its capacity as mortgagee under any mortgage securing moneys advanced either under section 6 of the principal Act or under section 2 of the 1917 amendment. The interest in mortgaged property acquired by the Crown by virtue of a mortgage is not to merge in any other interest. Several clauses set out the method of disposing of estates acquired by the Crown under the Bill. Every sale by the Crown of any freehold or leasehold estate or interest in any laud, or any assignment of any lease or grant of an underlease, may be, by public auction or tender or by private contract as may be determined by the Land Board with the approval of the Minister. Persons competent to acquire land under the principal Act, or to receive an j advance under section two of the 1917 amendment, may apply for the land or, in any special case, the Minister may, on the recommendation of the Land Board, dispose of the land to any other person. Sales under the Bill may be for cash or" on deferred payments. Where the sale is on deferred payments the unpaid purchase-money is to be secured by mortgage bearing interest at 5 per cenE. where the person is a returned soldier, and 5£ per cent, in every other case. Payment is to be by halfyearly instalments extending over a period not exceeding 36J, years. Pending permanent disposal, land may be disposed of under temporary license. Restrictions are placed on the power of transfer of mortgaged properties. An important provision is that which provides that a purchaser of land under section 4 of the principal Act may elect to change his title to a renewable lease. If this is clone the lease is to be of the same date as the original transaction, and payments made up to the time of surrender are to be deemed to be rent paid for the lease.' Any amount paid in excess of what would have been payable as rent is to be held as rent paid in advance; and due allowance is to be made for any rebates of rent to which a lessee would have been entitled. Power is given to the Minister i% postpone the due date of payment of instalments of principal and interest payable under any mortgage securing advances on rural lands bought under section 2 of the 1917 amendment, which. sanctions the purchase of farms to suit the requirements of individual soldiers. In such a case all subsequent instalments are to be deemed to be postponed for a period similar to the first postponement. The final clause meets, to some ex-' tent, the wishes of South African war veterans, for the Governor-General may, by proclamation, declare that "such provisions of the principal Act as may be specified in the Proclamation, shail apply to any person who, while domiciled in New Zealand, has served beyond New Zealand as a member of any of His Majesty's forces in connection with any war other than the war with Germany."