MORTGAGE BILL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 259, 30 September 1936, Page 7

MORTGAGE BILL.

PASSED BY UPPER HOUSE. AMENDMENTS DEFEATED. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Sept. 29. The Legislative Council met at 2.30 p.m. Fourteen days’ leave was granted to Sir Heaton Rhodes on account of ill- 1 ness. i Tributes were paid to the late Hon. | A. F. Hawke, a former member of the Council, and the Council adjourned for half-an-hour. On the resumption, the debate was resumed on the Mortgagors and Lessees Rehabilitation Bill. | Hon. V. A. Ward said ho thought : the Bill a good one, and lie hoped it would bo in the interests of the country. j Hon. J. McLeod said the gambler in land was very often the farmer himjself. He did not disagree with the objective of, the Bill, which carried on a principle that had been established lin the last two or three years. The I legislation was hardly necessary. I Hon. C. J. Carrington opposed the I Bill. Was nationalisation the object of the Bill P he asked. There should be a revaluation of the land in New Zealand on productive value. He thought the Bill went too far. Hon. H. A. Russell said he was of the opinion that the plan underlying the Bill was State ownership of land and nationalisation of industries. The Bill would take away the freehold from the individual and invest the land in the State. ( Hon. W. Perry said tho mortgagee was bound to lose some of his money ■ and the mortgagor was bound to get some benefit. If primary produce prices rose tho mortgagor got the benefit of the increase, but the principal sum advanced by tho mortgagee would have been reduced, and that amount by which it had been reduced, from the point of tho mortgagee, would have gone. There should be some provision by which the mortgagee would get the benefit of any increased values. Hon. M. Fagan, Loader of the Council, said the Bill was going only one more step in a direction that had been followed by governments down the ages, and the legislation would apply to floating charges and debentures that were exempted under the 1933 Act. The Government would consider all cases and make exemptions, only where they were justified. 1 Tho motion for committal was agreed to on the voices, and in Com- : niittee Hon. R. McCallum moved an' amendment to make the Bill apply only to mortgages executed before April 17, 1933, the date of passing of the previous legislation. The amendment was defeated by 19 votes to 7. Mr, Perry moved an amendment to the effect that where a mortgagor applied for a reduction of interest the rate should not be reduced to less than that charged by the State Advances Corporation. The amendment was defeated by 17 votes to 9 and the Bill was passed. The Council adjourned at 11.10 p.m.