ADVANCES TO SETTLERS.

Feilding Star, Volume XXII, Issue 165, 15 January 1901, Page 2

ADVANCES TO SETTLERS.

There still appears to be some dissatisfaction, especially among Crown tenants with regard to the procuration of loans under the Government Advances to Settlers Act, and occasionally one hears of instances where loans have been refused without any apparent reasonable cause. Cases have occurred iri which selectors have spent all their available money, in bushfelling, grassseeding, and, maybe, fencing, and have required an advance to stock their holdings. On application to the Advances to Settlers Office and on

payment of the fee a valuer is sent— | although the Department is supposed ! to use the expensive valuation supplied ' by the Valuation Department — and an assessment made, and not unfrequently the advance is refused. The consequence is that, the Government having declined to lend to their own tenant, even with an ample margin of security, the tenant has recourse to the private money-lender, who, as a rule, is much more liberal in dealing with the struggling settler. That some settlers have no difficulty is undeniable, but it is equally undeniable that others are unable to borrow from the same source. There is, in fact, a growing feeling, even amongst Governmenr supporters, that the tendency of the Government Advances to Settlers Office _s to favor those requiring large loans as against those with smaller holdings. . The absurdity of the regulations which hedge the office has also been evidenced in connection with the Aorangi estate in which case advances not exceeding £25 are allowed— strangely enough — on the smaller holdings only. This amount is absurdly small, and it would be of interest to know of what benefit such a paltry sum is likely to be. We do not suggest that the Advances to Settlers Office should recklessly make advances, but we do think that where the security is ample loans should not be refused to, at least, Crown tenants.