STATE ADVANCES OFFICE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19513, 23 June 1925, Page 9

STATE ADVANCES OFFICE.

WHERE ASSISTANCE WAS DECLINED. (Feom Oura Own Cobeespondent.l WELLINGTON, Juno 22. Complaints made in some quarters that the State Advances Office has paid more attention to the applications, from rural districts than to those from the cities were dealt with by the Hon. R. F. Bollard in a speech in the north* The number of applications received bv the State Advances Office,” said the Minister, “is tremendous. All cannot bo dealt with at once but the best is done in every case. People, whether in the city or the country, receive equal opportunity to get cheap money. That fine institution, the State Advances Office, has achieved a record which it could well boast of. The State Advances Department is prepared to assist all persons who are industrious, and the office seeks out the deserving. Here is a case—one of many—which speaks for itself. The department heard of a married couple with 10 children living in a building which wae 4ittle more than a shed. It sent an officer out to investigate. The officer reported that it was a case deserving of consideration. The department offered to advance the money to buy a home. The woman was a woman, of high principle, and she declined the offer, saying that her father-in-law had lent the money to acquire her present abode, and she felt that until that money was repaid she could not go in for another loan.” ‘‘That is a case,’’ added Mr Bollard, “of genuine self-reliance —a trait of the character of the true New Zealander.”