NO OCCASION FOR FEAR

Southland Times, Issue 22993, 12 September 1936, Page 8

NO OCCASION FOR FEAR

MR MASON DISCUSSES MEASURE (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, September 11. “I hope that the operation of this legislation will not be made more difficult by any unnecessary criticism of the kind calculated to raise fears in the minds of the people,” said the At-torney-General (the Hon. H. G. R. Mason) when speaking in the second reading debate on the Mortgagors’ and Lessees’ Rehabilitation Bill in the House of Representatives to-day. “There is no bias against the mortgagee and the Bill is designed to take away from him nothing that he has,” said Mr Mason. “It is designed only to register the loss that has already been incurred. It is right that that should take place because it will enable the parties to know where they stand. Under the present law they do not know.”

Referring to Adjustment Commissions, the Minister said that they had undoubtedly done good work. It was only by good administration that any legislation involving adjustment of mortgages could give satisfaction. “In the minds of the people the budgetary system has insuperable disadvantages,” continued Mr Mason. I am not saying a word against the way in which the budgetary system was operated by the Commission but, even before the last Government’s legislation system had become unpopular through the harshness of the companies that operated it, some of them did it with such severity that it was harder for the farmer to find the price of a packet of cigarettes than it was for a man on the Number 5 scheme. No amount of good administration on the part of commissions could make that system acceptable to the farmers. In the first place, it was surrounded by fear and dislike based on previous experience and, in the second place, it offered no certainty to the farmer as to where he stands during the five-year period. Even at the end of the five years his position is left in obscurity.”

Budgetary Control

The Minister said that up to the end of April there had been 1678 applications for adjustment under the Rural Mortgagors’ Final Adjustment Act and 848 of those had been received during April. In other words, it clearly showed that the farmers were not disposed to rush the budgetary control. Farmers had hung off as long as they could and it was only approaching the expiration of the Act that had induced many mortgagors to make application. It seemed they thought it a thing to be avoided as more than half had put off their application until the last minute.