AN EXCELLENT SPIRIT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 7 October 1922, Page 11

AN EXCELLENT SPIRIT.

(To the Editor.) buy-Some time ago you published a lead.ng article upon tKe reduction of mortgages, and. recommended that in a great many cases it'vvould be; to the advantage ot the district if thi,mortgagee and the mortgagor would get to-' gether and effect readjustments in respect to the encumbrances on properties sold duringthe! boom,. There is no your article was widely lead and _played^no small part in assisting: some of the Jbig-hearw*! men who were struggling with insuperable, difficulties; A most generous action on th« part of a mort^ge^ has come before the writer, .and-in view bf the interest you have taken in the matter of the adjustment of mortgages I place th* facts before you, >&. nfen whom we shall call A: sold a farm to B during the boom at £60 an acre, receiving £1000 deposit and. a mortgage* ..back for the balance of the purchase money. B entered on the property with a light heart, but after eighteen months' hard work he found it wits impossible for him to make the farm pay. B then A and placed the facts before him; A went carefully into the ■ and offered tol reduce his mort*gage to a figure based on £45 an acre as the value of the land, or, as an alternative, A to take' back the farm, lease it to B at £2 5s an acre, and in addition to refund him half of the £1000 paid when B. took over the property. B, realising that this generous offer .gave, him a chance- of making good, accepted the lease'at £2 '5s an acre and- the refun<J of £500. ' After the negotiations had been completed A went home and told his wife what he had done | the good lady said he should have gone further and refunded the whole of , the deposit. Finally they agreed to compromise, \and shortly after B received a cheque for £250, so that from the whole transaction A retained £250, less the cost'of having the property surveyed and the land agent's commission on the sale. The action of these two good people, Mr. and Mrs. A, cannot be too highly eulogised. A few, months ago B had bankruptcy staring him in the face, whereas today he has a first-class chance of making good and retrieving his position. The writer realises that a great deal has been done in this district in this way, but more must yet be done to assist the men who bought at inflated' values if we are to keep Taranaki prosperous and the milk running freely.— l am efce- ONLOOKHR.