"DELAYS OF OFFICE"

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 127, 31 May 1928, Page 12

"DELAYS OF OFFICE"

STATE ADVANCES HOLDING UP OF LOANS MONTHS OF RAITING (By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") , DUNEDIN, This Bay. Exasperation over the delays by\th» . State Advances Department in dealing ■ -' with applications for loans by their "..' clients is being expressed by Dunedin . legal men. "You want figures, not fiction," said one lawyer when he was approached, and from liis drawers he produced full : files covering resent applications made by him on behalf of clients. He roundly c/jndemncd the slow policy of the ' Department. Another legal man declar- .-" cd that if he could possibly avoid it he. would never make another application for loans to the State Office. About , twenty mouthy ago a legal firm sent the' necessary application to the State Adl vances Department in Wellington-, anil an acknowledgment was received four-' teen days' later. "Owing'to the demands made on its reserves, the Department is at present not in a position to entertain your client's application for finance," stated tho reply. "It has, ■ however, been recordqd in order of its receipt, and you will be duly advised- when the. , Department is in a position to'proceed with1 it, probably in the course of a few months." A TEW MONTHS PASS. I' The solicitors and the client x we're . both satisfied with the reply, but so far/ as •Wellington was concerned the record-'v^ ing of the application, was apparently' ■ tho last that tho staff thought about it.' '■'■ The "few months" passed, and. as the; time was pressing the solicitors com-V: 5 municated with tho State Advances- . Office again, over eighTT months after1" application had been lodged. « "■:'.' ■■ "It has not been possible to deal' with your client's application for an.' advance." With that reply the De%'' ' partment again lapsed into a dreamy;' o'' state. ' ■'■'■■ This instance of the departmental snail-like method of dealing with business is almost rivalled by another ap- ■• plication made by the same firm of solicitors. An increase of £200 on a loan , obtained was sought from the office, and two days after the dispatch of the' necessary particulars the valuation fee was paid. The Department's acknow:>: ledgment was received some fifteen days later in the same terms, that there was a rush, of business and the application had been recorded in order of receipt. The same lackadaisical method of recording, was made as in the first,= ■ = for the Department seemed to forget-*'l all about the request.' " ■, " :' EXASPERATED LAWYER. With two applications on his hands, >~ and the second applicant being serious- "' ly handicapped, the legal firm became-' exasperated. In polite terms it "wrote >;.". to Wellington asking that the question. " of the advance should be given early, ■" attention. The reply was that the Department regretted that, owing to the demands on its funds and the number of applications received' before the. firm's client's request, some time would .... elapse before the office would be able to proceed with it. 'The services of a.'-. prominent man in Wellington were... brought into force and after a lapse of a month tho Department replied that it , had rioted tho statements of that.gen- . tlcmau and in the circumstances had N --' decided to obtain a report on the pro- . perty with a v-iow to placing the application before 'the Loans Board. Some time ago the valuation was obtained, and then the Department was asked, after another lapse of nearly two months, when the solicitors could expect the board's decision in the matter. Then a telegram was sent from Dunedin without result. He was an indignant solicitor who- ■ was seen by the "Star." He said that the advances to -workers took too "long to negotiate to be a practical proposition. The delays were exceptional; . but as this was'election year the De- . partment could be expected to show more speed in deciding whether the applications for loans should "be granted or not. , . : '■■'■ A MARKED CONTRAST. In marked contrast to these applica-. tions was one for a rural advance. Tho Department definitely declined to sanction the loan within seven weeks of the application being made. Both the worker's and tho rural loan application and all the letters which tho Dunedin lawyers have-received have been signed by the same official on behalf of the Superintendent. This causfcd the so: :C----licitor to express his feelings over-the ;'■'■' delays between the two classes of appli-- '■ cations. , -...-: "You will find that Public Trust and State Advances money is not' loaned to " any great extent to Otago and South: land," said the solicitor. "The figures show that most of the money is being loaned to the North." Another solicitor declared that the consideration of applications by workers took altogether too long. Tho Department always said that there were hundreds of applications waiting finality, and he believed that to. be. true.-.. 'Sometimes, he said, a little influence brought to bear on the Department had " an effective ending. "If I could possibly do it, I would never make" an- „ other application to the Department,'' said,: another lawyer. • " .