ADVANCES OFFICE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1888, 24 October 1913, Page 4

ADVANCES OFFICE.

LATE SCATTER-CASH POLICY; AND THE NEW REGIME. The Hon. JAS. ALLEN presented a return relative to the Operations of the Stato- Advances Department, asked for by Mr. F. H. Smith, and showing:— (1) Tho amount authorised to be advanced to settlers for each calendar month, from Juno 30, 1911, to July 1, 19112, and (2) the amount actually advanced,for that period. . The figures were as under:— Amouhts' Amounts Authorised. Paid over. .' ■ £ £ 1911 — July 255,510 240,005 August 252900 231,240 September ... 207,310 21?j335 October ... 235,953 222,655 Novombor ... 174,510 199,315 December ... 91,965 146,075 1912 — January .... 99,630 148,565 February .... 71,115 118,180 March 81,190 96,930 April 84,445 73,605 May 76,255 103,445 Juno 78,200 81,940 By leave of the Houso, Mr. Allen gave a statement which continued .the comparison right up to September . of this year The particulars are:— Amounts Amounts Authorised. Paid over. 1922 £ ■ ' £ July 99,945 97,060 August 75,9f5 103,920 September .... 72,110 69,800 October 62,525 79,154 Novombor ... 47,170 56,406 Dccembor ... - 44,625 61,669 1913— January • 38,370 44,200 February ... 29,905 44,530 March 38,185 44,569 April 46,190 37,080 May 61,780 59,16S Juno 77,600 61,795 July ; 72,185 84,595 August 79,745 78,600 September ... 122,515 96,925 Tho grand tofal authorised siuco July, 1911, to September, 1913, was £2,877,810, and the amount paid over ' was £2,889,040. A note stated that the amounts paid exceeded the amounts authorised Because they included loans authorised in the previous period.' Tho amounts authorised' included loans previously authorised and repaid. A Difficult Problem. SIR JOSEPH WARD dealt at some length with tlie announced policy of the present Minister-of Finance of differentiating . between, sums repaid by settlers and ilnitlediafelS" reborrowed by the samo settlers, and repayments which becamo availablo for. fresh loans. Ho was convinced, ho said, that it would be very difficult to give; effect to. this distinction. Anyone taking up' the return, he contended, could not discriminate on tho plan laid down in tho Financial Statement. Ho pointed out that in 1911 loans to sottlers were t made as under by. tho Advances Department:—July, £255,510; August, £252,900; September, £207,310; October, £235,955; Novembor, £174,570, and called attention to tho fact that last month the sum ndvanccd wa-s £122,515, £133,000 less than was advanced in one month in | 1911. Tho return did not set out the details in the manner indicated in tho , Financial Statement. It could not be ■ seen how much of the amounts shown had been advanced in repeating existing j loans and how much had been advanced to settlers who had not borrowed before. Mr. G. WITTY (Riccarton) asked i when tho Advances Bill proposed to mako loans for the purpose of paying ( off mortgages in the case of persons who i wero Crown leaseholders. . Mr. J. G. COATES (Kaipara) said • that when a valuer had approved tho , amount of a loan asked for by an appli- , cant, the Department in some cases ■ afterwards cut down.tho amount. For j instance a loan of £400 might be cut , down to £280. A number of cases of ] this kind had como under his notice. 1 x The Minister Hits Out. 1 The Hon. JAMES ALLEN, in reply to Mr. Coates, said that he did not 1 know of any- case in which a valuer • recommended tho amount of a loan. As 1 to advances to repay existing mortgages, when tho present Government ' came into office no money was being 1 lent for this purpose. Now loans to | repay mortgagos were boing made to ' Crown tenants. _ In addition, the Gov- ' omment had twice raised the limit of c loans to settlors, until it now stood at £750.. Last month the amount lent to settlers totallod £122,515. Going on at that rate, the Government at tho end c of the year would be within a few thou- i sand pounds of tho whole amount i (£1,600,000) that thoy were authorised t to borrow in any one year. He was i aware-of the fact that certain accumu- c lations could be drawn upon. Some t mcmbors were trying to make capital I out of the fact that certain settlors \ had not been able to got all they want- t 2d, but ho could point to periods under t the past Administration when for weeks ind weeks no loans at all were made e /ions Administration." Tho present Govhad never done that. "I hope," said r the Minister, "to financo this country t better than that—to have to cut it right f straight off as happened under the previous Administration. The present Govsrnment was lending £122,000 in ono j month. Sir Joseph Ward had said t that much more was lent at a cor- J ■esponding period in 1911. He had said s ;hat in July, 1911, tho sum of £255,000 q ivas lent in ono month. j Peculiar Finance. First of all, he would call attention s to the peculiar method of finance of t ivhich Sir Joseph Ward was a great ex- c! ponent. The honourable gentleman was t in exponent of the scatter-cash policy p ind policy of plunge. To lend £255,000 i month was to lend at the rato of E3,000,000 a year. a A member: That- i« all right. \ Mr. Allen: Is it all right? Have we (j luthority to lend £3,000,000 a year to n :ettlers? It can't bo dons bicauae the F aw does not allow ua to borrow more « than a million and a half in ona year, p 1 am going to tell the country that luring those months' of 1911, lending tl ivas at the rate of £255,000, £252,000, a C 207.000, £255,000, and £174,000 per o nonth.- o Mr. Ngata: Don't talk too soon, a \"oxt year will soon come! ?i Mr. Allen said that tho amounts tho c< iVard Government had raised were bi out out because _ the elections ti vore coming on in December— p> Onposition uproar)—that was the p< itraight-out fact. And then what H lappened immediately the elections u rnro ovor? An attempt had be<?n p nado to sweeten tho settlers, but tlwi &

, were too clever to bo deceived by such j tactics, in tlie very month that the elections ended Mr. Witty: Oh, dear I . After the Elections. Mr. Allen said that in December down came the advances from £255,000 to £91,000. Government members: Oh! Mr. Ell; You arc reflecting oil the. Board. That is what you aro doing. Tho Minister (continuing): "Until when we eamo into office in Juno, it had got down to £78,000. Now tho , present Government wero lending £122,000 in September, wiikih, considering i tho financial stringency wo have had to , go through, was wonci'orful. Tho Minister, deferring to tho remarks of Sir Joseph Ward, said that the money had been lent out in exactly the same way as it had been previously. It was plain from what the lion, gentleman had. said that ho had not read the Budget with the care he ought to have given to it. Sir J. Ward: It was not worth reading, I admit! Mr. Allen: Very well. It Was not worth reading, and you did not read it. A fair deduction! Sir J. Ward: I did read it, but it Was not worth reading. Mr. Allen: You read it; then it was worth reading. Ho continued that the hon. gentleman when in office had "■lumped" amounts repaid and new borrowing all together. This,was misleading, and no (Mr. Allen) had introduced a method of showing tho amounts of repayments of Half-yearly instalments so that the Houso and country might know how much of this capital was made availablo. In answer to Sir J. Ward, Sir. Allen admitted that ho had presented tho Financial Statement of 1912 in whiiih repayments were not shown. On that occasion ho copied from tho hon. gentlemanj a method ho had" sinco found to be inaccurate, and ho had corrected it. The hon. gentleman had perpetuated this mistake for years. Ho (Mr. Allen) put it in wrongly in 1912, but ho found it out, and'put it right in tho next Budget. Under the- previous system, if a man paid back a loan of £300 in order to obtain £400, the £300 was entered as a repayment. This had been rectified. Sir J. Ward asked if there was not another paper (a companion return) to be laid upon tho table. Mr. Speaker said that the paper in question had boen laid on by loavo of the Houso. Sir J. Ward: I thought I might have had an opportunity of speaking: I would have given the hon. gentleman a warm time. Mr. Allen: Plenty of opportunities during tho rest of the session.