ADVANCES TO SETTLERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3097, 23 July 1913, Page 10

ADVANCES TO SETTLERS.

LIMITS RAISED. (From Ode Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, July 2. In the House this afternoon the Hon. James Alien (Minister of Finance) made a very important statement upon the subject of the work of the Advances to Settlers Department. Mr Allen said the £SOO limit in respect of advances to settlers came into force on March 1, 1912, and the present Government came into office in July, 1912. On May 26, 1913, the limit of £SOO imposed on March 1 was raised to £6OO owing to the better position of the finances. The Advances Board had now decided to further extend the limit of advances to settlers loans from £6OO to £750. The question as to whether loans should be granted for the renewal of mortgages coming due had been carefully considered, and it was not deemed advisable by the board to provide for these at the present moment. It was hoped, however, that the increase from £6OO to £750 would make it easier for those who had loans coming due to renew them from outside. Mr Wilford : Where are the people to get the money from '! Mr Allen : If we pour the money into the market; then they can get the money to use. Continuing, he said the limit of £SOO for loans to local authorities was made on January 15, - 1912, and of £IOOO under section 9 of the Act of 1912 on May 17, 1913. The Advances Board had now decided to grant loans not exceeding £2OOO to local bodies in outlying districts. The board was now also prepared to consider all applications for loans in outlying districts which came within the purposes provided for in the State Guaranteed Advances Act, 1912, and which did not exceed £2OOO-—that was to say if the application was a bona fide one from an outlying district. In a county the £SOO limit would not apply to that county. The sum of £50,000 had been set aside for advances to local authorities for the purposes mentioned in subsection 2 of section 9 of the “State Guaranteed Advances Amendment Act, 1912,” for constructing roads and bridges in outlying districts, and for metalling such roads for the first time. Under sub-section 3 of the same section the Government would have to pay out of the Consolidated Fund into the advances account in the last ten years of the terra of any loan an amount equal to 1 per cent, of the amount of the loan, and in each of the succeeding 10 years an amount equal to g per cent of the amount, thus relieving the local bodies to that extent. The loans to workers were reduced to a maximum of £3OO in November) but were increased to £4OO on May 15. ' He alsct wished to make a further statement regarding the Advances Office and its dealings under sections 77-83 of the “State Guaranteed Advances Act, 1908.” These sections gave power to the Superintendent to advance money to the Lands Department for the purpose of opening up Crown lands for settlement by the construction of roads and bridges, etc. That morning he had signed authority for close on £25,979 for opening up Crown lands for settlement, by the construction of roads and bridges under this Act. Mr Allen continued that he would be very glad indeed to do anything he could for " widows, but the trouble was that if they relaxed the rule they would put themselves in the difficulty of providing for those people who advanced money on risks which were unsatisfactory. The State could take some of the risks, but there were a great many that could not be taken over by the State. He wished to refute the statement made by the member for Wanganui that the board was “ cold-blooded and relentless.” His own experience of the board was that it was neither cold-blooded nor relentless. It was doing all it could in the interests of the workers and iii the interests of settlers and local bodies. He was only sorry that there was no more money available to provide for renewals, but the question had been very carefully considered, and they had come to the conclusion that the best way to meet the difficulty would be to increase the competition among private lenders by increasing the amount which the Government would advance to £750. It had always been the practice to refuse loann for renewals of mortgages. This had been done long before the present Government came unto office. *