MONEY FOR FARMERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19719, 19 August 1927, Page 13

MONEY FOR FARMERS.

SCHEME BEING CONSIDERED.

HELPING "THE SMALL MAN."

RURAL CREDIT ADVANCES.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON. Thursday. A promise that the Government's proposals for the provision of intermediate credit for the farmers, as recommended by the Rural Credits Commission, would be found to be of real use fo the producers was made by tho Prime Minister, Mr. Coates, in the House to-day when referring to rural finance. Mr. Coates said immediately after the Government had received the recommendations of the commission it had taken steps to give effect to the first part of the recommendations, and the Minister of Finance had provided £750,000 for the scheme, pending the issue of the rural credit bonds. Mr. T. W. Rhodes (Thames) : It is very hard to get advances. The Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Downie Stewart: You can get them if you have the security. Mr. Coates said it must be remembered the proposals were new and they were not wholly understood. The Minister of Finance had also to complete his organisation to operate the scheme, while he was also bound by statutes. He could not have done more than he had; applications for advances had been dealt with as soon as they came in. Mr. M. J. Savage (Auckland West): That is not the case, surely ? Mr. Coates: 1 am speaking of rural advances. Mr. Savage: I had a case before me only ten minutes ago .which had been turned down without any reason being given. Mr. Coates : As far as the board is concerned every application is dealt with as soon as it "is received, and where the security is reasonable the applications have been met. I can assure the honourable member that he is entirely wrong. Mr. Savage : And I can assure" you that I am entirely right. Mr. Coates said he would be glad to look into the case mentioned by Mr. Savage, but he could tell him that every application had been dealt with by the board. With regard to intermediate credits, Mr. Coates said one would think from j some of the criticism that all the Minister 1 of Finance had to do was to sit down and write out an Act and that would be the end of it. The matter had, however, to come before - Parliament. It had occupied the attention of the Government and also the best brains the Government could get, on the subject. When the bill was brought before the House it would be found to contain provisions which would be of real use to the farmer, particularly to the small man, the dairy farmer and the wheatgrower. He believed that when the bill was ready it would be of immense advantage to the small farmer. STATE ADVANCES LOANS. REDUCING THE APPLICATIONS NUMBER OF EMPTY HOUSES. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Thursday. The position in regard to loans from the State Advances Department was explained by the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Downie Stewart, in the .House this evening. The Minister said the department was now dealing with housing applications for June of last vear and with settlers' applications of August of last year. In 1924 there were 7000 applicants for £9.500,000, but in 1927 there were only 4500 applicants for £4.900,000. The experience of the department was that there were empty houses in 30 towns, and in view of this it was necessarv for the department to pursue a cautious policy. He did not know why these I houses had come back on to the department, but possibly it was due to unemployment or a second mortgage was forcing the occupants out. As matters stood the department would have to consider whether it would not be better to finance people into older houses than to encourage the building of new houses. - With regard to rural advances, the Minister said there had been no delay or holding up of applications for want of money. Of £500,000 put into this fund only about £IOO,OOO had been paid cut. The department was urging people to get their mortgages completed so that rural credit bonds could be issued against completed mortgages. The scheme for intermediate credits was a complicated one and the Government was seeking to find a way by which the scheme would be of real benefit to settlers. The Minister said that in Auckland at the. present time rents were falling and the supply of houses was equal to the demand. It was not true that the Go\einment was.doing nothing. A return for the last four months showed that the amount advanced for workers' houses was £500.000 for 473 houses. That was over HIOO houses a month. The total loans for houses erected, assisted or purchased in town and country during the four months was 582, involving the amount of £642.000. Thus the total State advances in those four months amounted to uearlv £1,000.000*