ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.
(To the Editor of the Wellington Independent.)
Sir, — T dare say some of your readers have noticed a detailed and laboured exposition of the affairs of the Land on deferred Payment Society, the accuracy of which I am not going to despute. The figures contained therein, I assume to be correct, to contain la verili, nor do I doubt the success of the Society; what I wish to call the attention of your readers to, is, that this Sooiety was (as its name infers) started expressly to enable parties to buy land, aud aettle in the country, a laudable object. Now, looking at the figuies in the report I find, that the Society has advancad (i.e. lent) £17,070 6s, and that 7495 acres of land are held as security for the repayment of part of the same. Now, supposing, that this 7295 acres, which at 10s per acre represents the sum of £3647 10s in land purchased by the Society, for country settlers, (of which I am not at all certain) it follows that the W? 00 Of - the 17 ' 070 6s ' after deducting the A 3647 10s is the very large sum of .£13,4:22 16s, aalent on mortgage, on town acres (3128 feet frontage) house property, &c, and I am therefore driven to the conclusion, that this Sooiety has failed to carry out in its integrity the purpose for which it was established, it has failed as a Land on Deferred Payment Society, but it has succeeded
as a Loan Society. As to Whether such great facilities for borrowing small sums of money, does not encourage reckless speculation among the humbler classes, is another question the borrowers will have to find out and pay for. Those who speculated with the profuse money accommodation of the two rival Banks, some two years ago, are suffering for it to this day. Debt and difficulty, is the result of the past and present ruinous system of credit in Wellington. lam inclined to think, that for so very many persons, in oursrnall community to beindebted, to so large an extent to Mo. 2 Building Society and the Land on Deferred Payment, ia not a very healthy state of things. The evil goes on increasing in geometrical proportion. No. 1 Building Society terminates well by leaving a light legacy of mortgages, to be taken up by No. 2. No. 2 will wind up with a heavy amount of mortgages, perhaps , to be absorbed by the Deferred Payment Loan Society. And if so, the taking up of the enormous mortgages of the Deferred Payment Loan Society, may be deferred to an indifinite period. The Committee's Report is interesting, but the allusion to Mr. Allen's visit to England would have been better left out, as most people here are pretty well aware under what circumstances that visit waa made. Your's, &c, A Looker-on.
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.
Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1702, 21 February 1862, Page 3
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in