RESTORATION LOAN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 279, 24 November 1931, Page 11

RESTORATION LOAN.

£2,250,000 to be Expended in Hawke’s Bay. MR COATES AT NAPIER. Per Press Association. NAPIER, November 24. An account of the efforts made by the Government to restore Napier and Hastings after the earthquake was given by Mr Coates speaking here last night. Much had been done, he said, but there was still much to do. The people of Hawke’s Bay had set to with a will to help themselves and with the assistance of the Government had worked wonders. Mr Coates said that the additional cost to the Government arising out of the earthquake will be £500,000 for the restoration of and repairs to roads, schools and public buildings, and £150,000 for resurveys and restoration of land transfer titles and records. The State Fire Office has decided to meet all claims for damage due to the fire in February last and all claims received and inquired into have ‘been met. In all the total expenditure from the public funds will amount to upr wards of £2,250,000. Applications received by the Rehabilitation Committee set up under the Hawke’s Bay Earthquake Act total approximately 1200 to date, the amount of assistance applied for being about £2,000,000. The committee, which has a difficult task in dealing with many complicated applications, is working as expeditiously as possible. The committee holds the view that the re-erection of buildings should be the first consideration and has therefore concentrated its efforts on applications for that purpose. The most recent figures indicate .that the loans granted will total £383,560 and grants £11,660, making a total of £395,220. Where assistance is given by way of* loan either for the re-instatement of r buildings or for the replacement of’ stock-in-trade and equipment, the terms have been made exceptionally easy. Loans are for the most part free of interest up to five years. In special cases loans are made free of interest, the principal being repaid by easy; annual instalments. Each case is treat-' 1 ed strictly on its merits. In addition to the specific provision mentioned, wide powers have been conferred upon the Governor-General in Council to make regulations to provide for the many emergency conditions which arose as a consequence to the earthquake. The fact that the population was now greater than before the earthquake might well be regarded as a remarkable circumstance, if one did not know the fine spirit of the people, their unshakable confidence in their town and district and their determination to restore the beauty for which it had been so renowned. “The courage displayed by the people a few months ago is the courage we want to-day right throughout the country in meeting problems of a different kind but nevertheless serious,” Mr Coates added. The principal payments from the £380,000 of voluntary contributions were:—Food, clothing, sustenance, general relief, at Napier £51,800, at Hastings £26,200; reconstruction of dwellings at Napier £87,800, at Hastings £33,600; in Wairoa and central Hawke's Bay £BBOO. Interest earned on the relief fund to the end of September was £7200.