EX-SERVICE LOANS'

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 99, 28 April 1945, Page 9

EX-SERVICE LOANS'

TOTAL OF £6,507,574

REVIEW OF STATE AID

Loans advanced to ex-service men and women up till the end of March totalled £6,507,574, according to the monthly review issued today by the Rehabilitation Department. Of that total, £6,099,997 was advanced to men who had returned from overseas, and £3766 to returned service women. Demobilised home service men and women up to the same date had been granted loans amounting to £316,126, merchant seamen £26,590, and war widows and their 'ependants £61,095. Altogether a total cf 10,910 ex-service men and women had been assisted financially, including 9834, apart from merchant seamen, who had seen service overseas. In March the total loan authorisa- ! tions amounted to £623,958, this .being the highest figure so far reached for any single month. In practically every j department of rehabilitation assistance the£e was a marked increase during March. HOUSING LOANS. Ex-service men and women who have been assisted either to erect or to purchase houses numbered 2790 by the end of March. Of these, 782 have received advances for building new dwellings, the remaining 2018 being assisted to buy existing homes. The total amount involved in advances for these purposes was £3,037,450. During March alone 309 eligible applicants were granted housing loans,- 193 of these being for the purchase of existing houses and 116 for the erection of new homes. The total amount advanced for these purposes during March was £356,427, which includes 202 interest-free supplementary loans totalling £30,740. Loans of this latter nature so far advanced till the end of March numbered 1302 to the value of £213,608. LOANS FOR BUSINESSES. By. the end of last month the total number of discharged men and women who had been helped by way of business loans had reached 1259. This total included 1160 men and two women returned from service abroad, 128 home servicemen, three merchant seamen, and two dependants of deceased servicemen. A total amount of £564,854 had been advanced for this purpose. During March, 89 returned men and eight home servicemen received business loans amounting to £54,467; PLACED ON FARMS. In -March a further 54 servicemen, all returned from overseas, were placed on farms, the total amount advanced for this purpose being £189,150. This brings the grand total till the end of March to 734 servicemen who have been aided to buy farms at loans totalling £2,374,142. Of those thus far settled, 709 were returned men, 22 home servicemen, two merchant seamen, and one dependant of a deceased exserviceman. FURNITURE AND OTHER ADVANCES. I The number of ex-service men and women who have been granted interest-free loans t> buy furniture had reached a total of 5589 by the end of j last month. The finance involved then stood at £509,713. Of those so aided 5012 were returned service men and women. During March, 341 furniture loans were advanced, involving £31,612, those to returned men and women numbering 317. Interest-free loans are also for the purchase of tools of trade, and these were granted to 25 more ex-service-men during March at a cost of £772. This brings the amount advanced till the end of last month for this purpose to £12.908. covering 433 applicants. A further six loans for miscellaneous purposes were approved by the Rehabilitation Board during March, the total sum being £530. These were, all advanced to returned servicemen. Fifty-nine such loans, amounting to £8507, had been granted till the end of last month. ALLOCATION OF STATE HOUSES. Under the 50 per cent, quota system a further 161 ex-service men and women were allocated State rental, houses and flats during March. This ' brought the . total number to be so i housed to 2936. Details for the' various centres are as follows, the allocation to date -and during March being given in that order:—Auckland, 897, 63; Hamilton, 230, 6; Napier, 152, 9; New Plymouth, 92, 2; Wellington, 966, 67; Nelson, 54, 2; Christchurch, 290, 4; Dunedin, 187, 7; Invercargill, 68, 1; j totals, 2936 and 161.