LOANS TO SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1924, Page 5

LOANS TO SOLDIERS.

OVER TWENTY MILLIONS. SHOW INCREASE. BETTER PRICES FOR FARMERS, (By Wire—‘Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, Last Night. The annual report on discharged soldiers’ settlement says the total amount raised under authority of the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act to March 31 last amounted to £20,069,066, of which amount £37,500 was borrowed during the year. Rather than borrow fresh capital the Treasury left the sum of £540,000, representing interest owing to the Consolidated Fund, in the account to enable the department to discharge its liabilities. In respect of advances authorised for the erection of dwellings £21,883,500 had been authorised to 22j213 returned soldiers from the commencement of operations under the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act. This exceeds the actual borrowed capital by £1,704,432, the capital receipts having, been applied towards making further advances. Numbers of settlers fail to realise the necessity of allocating a reasonable .portion of the income from their farms towards the maintenance of their pastures, with the result that farms which at one time were highly productive now show substantial deterioration. They appear to consider that the department should provide means for this purpose. It does not occur to them that the purchase of fertilisers for farms in running order at the time of acquisition becomes an annual charge on the farm returns. The failure of the department to appreciate request* for the maintenance of pasture has caused many complaints. Assistance is, howeve*, given for the purpose of bringing properties to a productive state, after which the settlers must themselves attend to the maintenance of their properties. The receipts and payments account discloses that repayments in respect of advances amount to £795,841, being an average of £ l 66 > 320 per month, while interest receipts total £627,921, or an average of £'52,327 per month. The monthly average receipts therefore total £118,647, against £l-13,845 for each month in the previous year. Although the returns show an improvement on those of previous years it was nevertheless considered that with the Improved prices obtained from wool, mutton, etc., and the good prices obtained for 'butter-fat the receipts would have exceeded the above figures.