MORTGAGORS' REHABILITATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23204, 31 May 1937, Page 7

MORTGAGORS' REHABILITATION

TO THE EDITOR Sir,—ln your issue of May 26 appears a letter from "A Sorry Mortgagee" under the heading of " Mortgagors Rehabilitation," and as I am also a sorry mortgagee I can sympathise with him and agree with what he thinks when he suggests that steps should be taken to form a mortgagees' association throughout the Dominion. I would like to inform the writer of that letter that there is already an Investors' Protection Association in existence in Wellington, and I think that mortgagees in the south should join it instead of forming an association of their own. I consider it unlikely that mortgagees can now do much towards saving their money already invested in farm and other mortgages, but I do think they can- avoid future losses by inserting a notice in the principal newspapers in the Dominion requesting all mortgagees who have lost part or all of their capital through the Mortgagors' Rehabilitation Act to send to the secretary of the Investors' Protection Association the names and addresses of all mortgagors who took the advantage of the Act to rob the mortgagee of part of his capital. If that was done, investors who thought of lending money in future could first inquire from the Investors' Protection Association L the person to whom he proposed to lend the money had taken advantage of the Mortgagors' Rehabilitation Act to "beat" the mortgagee for part of- his capital, in which case he would not lend money to him at all. I know of some persons already who, having sums of money they could spare for investment in mortgages, would lend it if the Labour Government were not in office, but they absolutely will not lend it for fear of losing it. For every such person I have heard of there are probably a hundred of whom . I have not heard. About a fortnight ago there appeared in the Otago Daily Times an item of news under the heading of "Drift to Towns'." This report states that a large number of farmers' sons are drifting to towns because their fathers have no money to start them in farms of their own. Everyone must know that a great many of our successful farmers obtained a start on their farms, not with money thev received from their fathers, but with money they borrowed; and, with money from that source cut off by the Labour Government's legislation those young men will have to continue drifting to the towns. It is little wonder that there is a flight of capital to Australia since Labour got into power. Mr Savage once denied that there was any flight of capital to Australia because of Labour's policy, but if he has not heard of any l can assure him that I have.— I am. etc., Australia.