THE MASONIC

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 272, 1 November 1932, Page 9

THE MASONIC

PUBLIC MISCONCEPTIONS UNEMPLOYMENT BOARD LOAN. CONDITIONS OF EXPENDITURE. Mr Geo. Ebbett of Hastings, man-aging-director of the company which nwns the Masonic Hotel, Napier, has given the following information to the press for publication.— “I have read statements made io Parliament and elsewhere publicly re» lative to the finance for the re-erection of the Masonic. I take them as having been reported correct!}’, and these three call for some comment: “(1) The Public Trustee lent £15,000 on second mortgage of the property. “(2) The State Advances Superintendent lent £21,000 on first mortgage of the property. “(3) The Unemployment Board lent £B,OOO on third mortgage of the same property. “1 take tho first two together. As they stand both are utterly wrong and most unjust and constitute a very grave rejection ,ou the Public Trustee and State 'Advances Superintendent and on the administration of their respective departments. “The Public Trustee, in the sense in which this statement is made, never at any time lent £15,000 or any other sum on second mortgage of this property. Prior to the earthquake he lent J 840,000 on first mortgage of a property worth at that time £lOO,OOO, and ho took good care to satisfy himself he was well secured. When the earthquake destroyed the building he received £25,000 earthquake insurance leaving him with a first mortgage of £15,000. When the Rehabilitation Committee lent £21,000 to help reerect the building his became a second mortgage by law, whether he agreed or not.

STATE ADVANCES MORTGAGE. “The State Advances Superintendent a* such, never at any time lent any money on the security of this property. IV hen the Treasury, on the recommendation of the Rehabilitation Committee, made the advance to help the rebuilding, it was arranged that the mortgage, m common with all other similar mortgages, should be taken by the superintendents as a matter of expedioncy* ■ “To infer that any settler or farmer or anybody else was deprived of even a* much as one pound which he would otherwise have got js simply ludicrous. It is raised in complete ignorance of the facts. “With reference to No. 3 statement, there is some element of truth in this, but to make the bare statement without disclosing the facts bearing on it js unjust and most unfair to the Unemployment Board. So that those who are passing resolutions and who are so full of criticism may learn a little of what they are taking about, I propose to deal with the position a little more fully. “After the earthquake the company was left with the site and a heap of ruins subject to a mortgage of £15,000; and at a time when even easy finance was impossible. Practically the whole of the company’# property was absolutely destroyed. A big majority of the shareholders suffered ruinous losses besides and could do nothing to help themselves. *

OFFER TO LEND £21,000. “The Rehabilitation Committee offend to lend £21,000, which made the mortgage liability £36,000. The building could not be erected under £40,000. We combed the Dominion to get the necessary additional money without ef 4 feet. We tried to sell the property for anything with the same resußt. The directors then determined to drop the whole thing, to recommend liquidation and abandon the site to the Public Trustee, and it was left to me to fix a date of a general meeting of shareholders for this purpose. "Before that was done the chairman and deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board visited Napier, but not at our request. The position was then this: Twelve months had gone since the earthquake. With some two or three exceptions no attempt had been made to rebuild Napier and there was no sign of any such attempt. Many had serious doubts whether it would ever be rebuilt and the reason everybody thought he knew. The Masonic was considered to be the centre, the pivot round which everything revolved and the key to tho whole position. Until it was commenced nobody else would commence, but let it once be begun and the whole atmosphere would be changed. Subsequent happenings have well proved this to be right, and to-day it is there for anybody to see. "The members of the board met the directors. They asked: ‘What is being done about the Masonic!’ We said: ‘We are abandoning it, we haven’t the necessary money, we can’t provide it and we can’t get it.’ They said: • ‘Well, there are many hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of work here and there are hundreds of unemployed. We want to get these idle men into some useful work, but from our own observation on the spot and from the information we have we are convinced nothing will be done until the Masonic is colnmenced. ’ I replied: ‘We are well aware of that, but we can’t help it. It would be stupid to commence unless we could see our way through, and we can’t do that without at least another £8,000.’

TO PROMOTE EMPLOYMENT. • "They said: ‘lt is our first function to promote employment. We can’t go outside it, but if by some means we could get all this work commenced and at the same time help to start rehabilitation in Napier, we would consider it. Can you guarantee that £BOOO will be spent in wages! Wo can’t find money for anything else.’ We gave that assurance. As a matter of fact the total wages paid to date is more than £16,000. "Subsequently the board agreed to lend £BOOO on third mortgage and on the condition that with the exception of a certain few specially skilled men the whole of the labour should be drawn from the unemployed register In Napier. We think we were hardly treated because we have to pay the £BOOO, and had things been hung up for

another month we should have got the biggest part cf it in subsidy for nothing. Those who are criticising the board and passing resolutions may as well knew that if there had been no Unemployment Bpard loan the Masonic site in all probability would have been a heap of ruins to-day. If the rehabilitation of Napier is of any importance and the earlier employment of hundreds of men was desirable it will be evident to any sensible person who knows what has happened since that the board did the very wisest possible thing.”