THE MORTGAGE RETURNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13583, 12 September 1908, Page 4

THE MORTGAGE RETURNS.

The mortgage returns for the Dominion are decidedly satisfactory to Auckland. Of»-the £65,000,000 which remained secured by mortgage under the Land Transfer Act on March 31 last, only £5,800,000 was upon Auckland property, although we have the biggest and most promising province and the greatest commercial centre in New Zealand Wellington headed the list with mortgages of close upon £20,000,000, which is the legacy of the "boom" experienced by the capital, and a serious handicap upon its ability to sustain comfortably any financial check. Canterbury comes next with over £14,000,000, in which'connection it may be mentioned that Christcburch had an "exhibition boom," from which it has not yet recovered. Auckland, the leading province, is third on the mortgage list with barely a third of the landed indebtedness of Canterbury and barely a twelfth of our colonial indebtedness. Otago and Southland taken together have £2,500,000, more mortgage debt than Auckland. 5 This speaks well for the present stability and future security of our provincial progress and expansion. While our exports have been steadily increasing, as shown by the Harbour Board returns, our liabilities have been kept well in hand and our lands largely belong to their registered owners,, and not to those who have advanced the capital ' for their development. Taranaki is also in a creditable financial position, but Auckland stands easily first. We have had no boom we have not owed our prosperity to undue borrowing; the province and the city have grown and increased by genuine expansion and by profitable pro- | duction. There is no part of the i Dominion more sound in its .Snani cia? and industrial position than i Auckland, and none can compare I with it in promise. If the Government would only put more energy into the making of our back country roads and railways, and would abolish the incongruity of Maori owners of millions of acres of idle land, worth millions of pounds, "starving" for food and depending on fish for food even in the close season, our prosperity would become even more marked. For all circumstances go to show .that, although comparatively the least indebted of the New Zealand cities and provinces, Auckland is not only the biggest and most populous already, but in the near future will leave all its rivals far.behind it.