“ Walking Off.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 46, 24 February 1931, Page 6

“ Walking Off.”

To the Editor. Dear Sir, —Surely the most important thing in New Zealand to-day is a readjustment of farm mortgages, so that men may be prevented from walking off their properties because the burden of heavy interest charges is impossible to bear. The tremendous damage caused to New Zealand’s productivity by this widespread menace cannot be exaggerated. A hard-working, capable farmer asks a mortgagee for a reduction in his mortgage. Failing to get it, he walks off. Both parties suffer, and the land is often allowed to go back into a state of neglect. Some time afterwards, another farmer, probably one who has walked otf elsew’here under similar circumstances, takes up the farm under a mortgage reduced to a point more in keeping with prospective income, and he proceeds to battle on—after he has cleared away the weeds and repaired the broken down fences. Is it possible to imagine a more wasteful or insane state of affairs? Our farmers are blamed for not being men of business. What about the reputed men of business, the mortgagees and their agents and the banks? Re-adjustment of boom-time mortgages, carried out on a systematic scale, would have saved them thousands if carried out months ago, but they sat still and let things drift from bad to worse, shutting their eyes to the position and then squealing when it was too late. The distress and hardship needlessly caused can be chalked up against their accounts. They have waited for the Government’s lead. Men of action and vision would have made a concerted move on their own account long ago.—l am, etc , ANTI-STAGNATION.