SETTLEMENT PROBLEMS.

Waipa Post, Volume XX, Issue 1179, 8 December 1921, Page 5

SETTLEMENT PROBLEMS.

ADJUSTING POST - WAR SPECULATION.

IMPORTANT PROPOSALS PROMULGATED.

' DAIRY FARMERS’ UNION DEPUTATION TO GOVERNMENT.

(By Telegraph.—Special to Post.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Delegates. of the Dairy Farmers’ Union are in Wellington placing important proposals before the Government in relation to land settlement. The proposals, which may he termed financial remedy proposals, are in consideration of the fact that a large per centage of farmers at the present time are in financial difficulties, and in scores of cases have ldft their farms. For these men to cease producing and the land to fall back into the hands of mortgagees who will not farm the land will be detrimental to both the individual and the State. The Main Proposals. It is therefore urged:— 1. To obviate this trouble the Dairy Farmers’ Union recommends that a commission be set up representing the ■Government, the mortgagee, and the mortgagor, and arrangements made where the mortgage is unusually high —brought about by land speculation and in many cases unpaid principal and purchase money—that the mortgagee reduce the amount of his or her mortgage, and also the rate of interest, to what a farmer can reasonably be expected to pay. 2. Where a farmer is holding more land than he can reasonably farm after the mortgages are adjusted, that he divide the farm in two or more parts and lease with a compulsory purchase to the incoming tenant; the mortgagee to divide his or her mortgage in equal parts, and thus relieve the farmer of half his liabilities. 3. To have necessary legislation passed at once, so as to give the Government power as the third party to settle any dispute that will arise between the parties concerned. 4. That necessary surveys in connection with sub-divisions of property and the necessary legal expenses in connection with transfer and readjustment to be conducted by State departments at lowest possible cost. 5. Seeing that in many instances incoming men will have available only limited capital, we would suggest that a means be devised whereby the State Advances or some other department ' advance on amount up to say £3OO on a £ for £ basis at current rates of interest.

6. By this means it will increase production of New Zealand, lighten the burden of farmers, stabilise the finances of the country, and place mortgagees on a sound footing, and thus place confidence in farmers who are anxious to carry on and face the present critical position. A Second Proposal. Supplementary to the above proposal it is urged:— 1. That a commission be appointed to investigate all post-war and subsequent mortgages with a view to advise the Government to enact special legislation or to amend existing legislation so that in all cases of such mortgages! where the total value of all existing mortgages on the property exceeds 90 per cent of the average cash selling value during the year 1919, the commission may request all parties concerned in the property to attend and show reason why the amount should not be reduced to that level. 2. An amendment to the Valuation Act enabling that Department to make a special valuation of all the agricultural land in New Zealand, such new value to be computed on the basis of productive capability and proximity to commercial facilities. 3. That where a genuine farmer finds it impossible to farm the whole of his holding, and having found a tenant, he may apply to the Lands Department to be relieved of part of the property, such part to be leased under the o.r.p. tenure, a special bond to be issued to the vendors (covering the value of the separated portion), non-interest bearing, to mature in ten years, the tenant paying all transfer and survey costs, etc. 4. The regulation of sale and purchase of all agricultural land to a positive productive and facilities value based on the farm’s returns for the year previous to the special valuation; the price per acre not to exceed a earnings of the farmosum equal to 5 per cent of the gross earnings of the farm for the year previous to the special valuation.