SOLDIERS’ LOANS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21632, 8 February 1945, Page 4

SOLDIERS’ LOANS

EXCUTIVE POWERS EXTENSION OF SCHEME ATEMENT (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Fob. 8. “District executive committees have been set up at New Plymouth and Hamilton by the Rehabilitation Board, in pursuance of its policy of decentralisation,” stated the Hon. C. F. Skinner last night. It is intended to establish a committee in Dunedin by February 20, and one at Invercargill shortly after. “The system of delegating authority to make loans to ex-servicemen to the district executives has been working very well indeed, particularly in the interests of applicants, by speeding-up negotiations," said the Minister. “Decentralisation has been in force in Auckland since January, and in Christchurch since the beginning of December; and in the next lew months we hope to have It operating in all centres where there is a branch of the State Advances Corporation. “The executives may authorise the granting of loans to eligible ex-ser-vicemen without reference to the rehabilitation loans committee in Wellington, whenever their members are unanimous in the case, and it is gratifying to say that, unanimity so far has been the rule rather than the exception. It has been only recently, however, that decentralisation has been practicable. During the year 01more that my department has been functioning, our policy has crystallised, the public servants and voluntary workers concerned have obtained valuable experience, and a high degree of uniformity has been achieved among the district committees. There is little danger now of the' ex-serviceman of Canterbury, for instance, being treated on a different basis from one say in Taranaki.”