Selling Rehabilitation Financed Farms: Position Explained By Minister

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 44, 7 May 1948, Page 5

Selling Rehabilitation Financed Farms: Position Explained By Minister

The position arising where an exserviceman who has obtained a freehold farm with rehabilitation assistance wishes to transfer it to someone else, is explained in a statement by the Minister of Rehabilitation, the Hon. C. F. Skinner. The question, says the Minister, was recently raised by a branch of New Zealand Federated Farmers, and it has been felt some explanation of the Rehabilitation Board’s policy should be given. - “It is a covenant in the mortgage, when an ex-serviceman acquires a freehold farm with rehabilitation finance, that the consent of the State Advances Corporation as agent for the Rehabilitation Board must be given to any transfer where the loan is not being repaid. Should the ex-serviceman be considering transferring to another ex-service-man who is graded “A” for that particular type of farming and who is eligible for rehabilitation assistance, consent would not be withheld, provided he could finance the proposition for any sum in excess of any rehabilitation loan granted to him. On the other hand, the benefit of a rehabilitation loan would not be extended to anyone else. “Even if the loan were repaid in full, an ex-serviceman could'be prevented from selling to a civilian purchaser if the farm was still suitable for rehabilitation. In such a case the question of acquisition by the Crown for rehabilitation purposes would immediately arise in the same way as with the sale of ordinary farm properties.