PAST MILLION MARK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 28 November 1945, Page 4

PAST MILLION MARK

REHABILITATION LOANS FOR OCTOBER DETAILB OF FIGURES Wellington, Nov. 27 For the first time the million mark was topped when rehabilitation loan authorisations for October reached a record total of £1.139.824, states the monthly review issued by the Rehabilitation Department. This figure brings the total loan authorisations to ex-servicemen and women to £12.352.157. Of this £11,782.557 was for men returned lrom oversea*, £8716 for returned servicewomen, £433,653 for discharged home service personnel. £46,481 for merchant seamen, and £80,750 for dependents of deceased servicemen.

During October 1528 ex-servicemen and women were assisted by way of loans, bringing the total to £18.574. A further 113 ex-servicemen were assisted to purchase single unit farms, this being 33 more than in September, and the value being £447.240. Farming loans until October 31st numbered 1310, the value being £4,531.209. Loan authorisations to purchase houses showed a remarkable increase during October, there being 313 (£310.691) during that month, against 232 (£242.468) for September.

Loans to build new dwellings showed practically no change. These amounted to 145 1 £203.815) in October, with 146 (£203,865) for the previous month. Total loans for housing purposes during October numbered 458 < £514.506). bringing the total authorised until the end of that month to 5318. valued at £5.932.674. This included 2854 interestfree supplementary loans worth £443,044, meant to bridge the gap between normal lending values and pres-ent-day costs. There- were 268 interestfree loans (£37,993) advanced during October.

Authorisations to advance capital to ex-servicemen in business numbered 183 during October. Of these 175 were to returned servicemen, seven to discharged homeservicemen, and one to a merchant seaman. The total value was £104,663 and brought the aggregate value of this type of assistance to £1,028,209 advanced to 1957 returned servicemen, two returned servicewomen, 172 discharged homeservice personnel, four merchant seamen and three dependants of deceased service-

interest-free furniture loans were advanced in October to. 711 ex-service personnel to a value of £65,557. This was a sharp increase on the previous month. The total amount so far authorised, is £821,690 advanced to 8994 exservicemen and women. Loans to purchase tools of trade, also interest-free, numbered 51 (£1872) for the month, making the total to date 636 (£19,705), while other miscellaneous advances totalled 12 (£5986). for October and 108 (£18,670) until the end of the month. —P.A.