MORTGAGE TOTALS NOT WHAT THEY APPEAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 46, 17 May 1927, Page 3

MORTGAGE TOTALS NOT WHAT THEY APPEAR

REPLY TO MR. HOLLAND STATEMENT BY MR. COATES Press Association DARGAVILLE, Monday. , The recent remarks by the leader ct the Opposition regarding an increase in mortgage liabilities were replied to by the Prime Minister this •vening. Mr. Coates said that Mr. Holland •tated that “the capital value of land has increased by 77 per cent, while the mortgage liability has increased by 18S per cent, yet the Reform Party

had claimed to be the friend of the farmer and the champion of the freeholder.” If, however, the figures were examined a little closer, it would be seen that the Government had no reason to be ashamed of its actions during the very trying financial crisis through which the country had passed. The Prime Minister said that Mr. Holland was confusing the amount shown by the mortgage registers as remaining on mortgage with the actual money liability under mortgage. The two were not the same. They all know how common it was for a guarantor to give a mortgage over his property in confirmation of his guarantee. No money was owing under such mortgages, except in certain eventualities, but these would appear in the registered mortgages for the amount of the guarantee. Similarly, during a slump in the prices of primary products, stock and station agents and banks had for years previously, in carrying the finance of the farmer, taken security by way of registered mortgage over any property owned. These may have been second or third mortgages, but they all appeared among the new registered mortgages. These mortgages did not represent new loans, but their number must have been considerable. They merely secured debts which had existed for years, but according to Mr. Holland they were an increased mortgage liability. A further point mentioned by Mr. Coates was that a mortgage for one sum over several properties in different registration districts might be registered for the full amount in each district. An extreme example of this occurred about three years ago. v hen an amount of £1.000,000 in respect of the same mortgage was registered in each of five districts, the total on the register being thus over-stated to the extent of £4.000,000 in respect of this one mortgage.