LOANS FOR SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 214, 4 June 1920, Page 8

LOANS FOR SOLDIERS

DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS ACT, NOT SUSPENDED HOUSE PROPERTY MAY NOT BE ' j; PURCHASED Delegates, to ,the conference of the Returned Soldiers' Association waited on the Prime Minister (Et. t ; Massey) and tho Minister of Lands (Hon. D. H. Guthrie) yesterday, to. mako complaints regarding the temporary suspension of the receipt of applications under the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act. In .their replies the Ministers pointed out' that the whole operations of the Act had not been suspended, but that, except in special cases, the purchase of houses in tho large . contres of population would not be approved. The deputation was introduced by Dr. . r® o^ er ' President of the association. ,Mr. W. E. Leadley (Christchurch) said tho returned men had believed the Government was out to give them a "square •-deal." On behalf of the 60,000 returned soldiers in New Zealand, tho deputation ~, come along- for a "heart-to-heart - ff' 'to" from " 10 North Cape to the Bluff returned soldiers were burn' ' with indignation at the unfair action of the Government in withdrawing with-, out, notice the loans under tho Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Aot.

Massey: They have been withdrawn temporarily. I want to make that point perfectly clear. Mr. Leadley: ''Well, sir, we have evidence to show that they have been withdrawn. I submit that that action has been very unfair on the part of the Government. I want to Tecall to your memory il very; important deputation that waited on you last October before the elections. We were urging oh that oocasion that at least twelve months' notice should be given before the benefits under the D.S.S. Act and Hepatriation Act were withdrawn. .We secured a very clear pledge from yourself/that that would be done." Mr. Leadley added that Mr. Massey said on that occasion \that the Government had no intention of withdrawing the loans, and his word had been taken. When the Government saw that tho money was running out, some notice should hove been Riven that the loans would be withdrawn. As a result of the sndden withdrawal. men all over tho country had been _ furiously affected and Unless the position was reconsidered 6ome of them would be in danger of losing deposits which they had paid down on the purchase of houses. They did not think. that that was/'playing the game", ,by the returned soldiers. It was requested tlwt every application lodged prior to April 2G. the date on which tho loans Wero withdrawn, should be dealt with by the Government- immediately, and that as soon as, Parliament met' authority should be obtained for tho continuance, of the loans. Because.the promise made had not been kept, the Government was losing tho confidence of returned soldiers.

Minister's Word. Mr. JlassOT,: -You be careful, Mr. Leadley.' 1 keep my word everv time I ttnko It.. Mr. Leadlev: That is what wo tell our men, sir, and that is why we are feeling sore thiat the promise you made has not been kept. Mr. Massey: I will prove that it-has been kept. Mr. Leadley:" I am saying this advisedly, and I have evidenco. I am not. waking rash statements, and if-my .colleagues don't agree with roe I am sure : they will say so. I say that the fact that this promise has not been kept Means that returned soldiers all over the country feel that they have been sadly let down. ~

Mr. W. Perry (Wellington) supported Mr. Leadlev'6 romnrks. Mr; Massoy had informed the association's executive subcommittee that, the fund bkid run down to ,£750,000, but that he would be able to find another ,£500,000 until Parliament net,' ..

Mr. Mnssey_ replied that, the: halfmillion mentioned by Mr. Perry did not go very far. -He- would quote figures which would'surprise them. Mr. Porry observed ttiat a promise had been, made by the Prime Mihisteir that sontracts and options signed prior to 'April 22 would have to ibe considered, and .with that assurance the sub-com-mittee had "been perfeotly satisfied. Several days afterwards, however, applications, submitted to the,' Wellington Lani) Board had been;. turned down; There were • application's for loans and optionn for-contracts that had been entered into Prior to April 22. The sub-committei. had been told .that other, applications Rlso had been rejected-, and it was fell that the Prime.Minister had not given 4he instructions to" the Deipartment. ; Mr.' Massey: The Department got the instructions, 'and they were given effect ft). . " ' Mr; Terry: No, sir. I have applica. tions that have, been refused.

* 'Mr. Guthrie: Perhaps it was becausa the value was not there.

' Mr." Perry: There was no question of tho value at all. The applications havb not been recoived. ,

V Mr. "Guthrie- That has all been changed. . Mt. Perry. It must have been, changed in the last twenty-four hours.

"Mr., Guthrie: "It has been changed becauso the instructions given by Cabinet were misread. , That is the only thing." He also. Raid that lat first some of the land officers had misread the instructions and took it that tho whole thing had been absolutely cut down.":.

Mr..Perry: Tlioy are not receiving applications -at the present moment. Mr. Guthrie: Yesterday your Land Board received them.

' Mr. Massey: Thero must have been a ■misapprehension.

' Mr. Perry: We hare not been under anv misapprehension. - Mr. Massey said, the misapprehension Jrnist have been on tho part of tho Land Board. " The instructions had Certainly been given. Appropriation Inadequate. Mr. Guthrie, in Teply, declared that no persons in the country were iriore enthusiastic" regarding advances to returned soldiers than tho members of the Cabinet. Unfortunately, the appropriation made by Parliament had proved inadequate and tho Government had no idea that it would be exhausted before April. The people of New Zealand had stated that whatever was done for the Tcturned soldier must bo done generously, and the Government was carrying out that instruction. An appropriation of .£12,500,000 had been asked for by him, and it was granted without one murmur from Cabinet and Parliament. In January, however, owing to the heavy demands, ho saw that the money would probably run out before Parliament met again. No esti. mate could possibly have been made of the amount of money that would be required, because they'did not knov how many soldiers wero going to ask for assistance. They were acting ok the past experience, that 46 per cent, of returned men required no assistance whatever. The figui'es proved that av.d they tried _to gauge the requirements on those lines. They found wliev the monthly requirements. came in that the money was not going to last—at least, they were frightened that it would not last until Parliament met again and granted fresh supplies. : Mr. Leadley: When did you find this out, sir?

Mr._ Guthrie: It was evident from our experience during thqj months that we nad parsed over.

Mr. iJassey: Tho Finance Department do not allow us to forget these things! Mr. Loatlley: Wliy not give us somo notice, then?

Mr. Guthrie replied that he was up against a proposition because the Financo Department (said it had not the authority to grant extra money, so it was (leaded to slacken oft m Tlio meantime. He mado a statenjpnt on tlio first chance lio got. at a public meeting at Inglewood. and if thev read it thc.v wou!d«£nd that the general acceptation of the position was not in accordance with his statement at all. Mr. Guthrie then quoted the following figures illustrating, what had been-spent on returned soldiers smco April. 1919:—April. £A,150,000; May, .£3,555.392; June, ,£423,000; July, ,£785,000; August J0578/WOV September, £1,746,000;

October, 000; November, .£1,283,000; December, XI,213,000; January, 1920, =£809,000; 'February, ,£1,082,000; March, -C 1.375.000: total tu March 81, 1920,, .£12,610,25-4. Ho had obtained authority for ,£12,500,000, and tho expenditure up to Match 31 last had been over, .£12,610,000. Tor April tills year the advance amounted to <£885,000. As ft result of the position that )iad arisen they had 'to inform the people that they wero unable to carry on in the manner that they had been doing before, and they had td be very careful. The very fact that the Government was going into the open market to buy farms and houses had had the effect of inflating values all .over the country. It was iioticenble today that tho little cessation that had occurred had had a very beneficial effect in steadying prices of land ana houses, and rightly so. . Tho Government did not want to see the soldieis with millstones round their_ necks. The Cabinet minuto had been _ intended to steady the Tush of applications, and, 11 necessary, shut out the buying of houses. By buying houses they had not been increasing the housing of the_ people at all—they were simply changing houses trom one person to another. It was much better to spend money on building rathen than buying, and tliey nil knew that tho prices paid for houses by soldiers had been abnormal. They therefore intended, to stop it if possible, because the Government would ' rather build than buy. By doing that they would be relieving the position. air. Massey: Or assist the persons concerned to build.

Mr. Guthrie erf-d it had been agreed by Cabinet that if tho Repatriation Department could not undertake the work tho Labour Department would come in and assist. The Government had' also been prepared to pay off mortgages at high rates of interest to give soldiers relief, but they found that they could not go on in that respect. Clause 2 of the Act had been intended to givo authority for the purchase of farms for men who were unable to undertake strenuous work in bringing unimproved land into, cultivation. It had lieqn found, htftrever, that land was being bought at very high prices and, because it was simsly beinpr changed from one man to another, that the production of landowners was not being increased. The .conclusion had been come to that that: was not a 1 very wise policy to con. tinue, and it was hoped that men would bo prepared to lead a strenuous life and take up Crown land instead of buying other land at the very highest market price. The Government thought, the time had arrived when they should ease off under, clause 2—the one-man onofarm proposition—especially as there were 700,000. acres of Crown land awaiting settlement,

Mr. Leadley urged that Mr. Guthrie should_ confine himself_ to . the points railed by the deputation, whose chief grievance was that the loans .were withdrawn without any notice whatever. Mr. Guthrie said he was putting tho position plainly becauso rumours had got about that applications had been turned down. They had not turned them down, and ho was acting on Cabinet's instructions. If applications had been refused, it was because the instructions had been misread. In Teply to Dr. Boxer, Mr. Gutlirlo said the only instructions issued were that they were to taper off with regard to the purchase of houses,'"but there was no definite instruction that the applications should not be received unless there were good and sufficient reasons. He had honoured every application that had been put before him unless there was good reason not to do so. That was the policy of the Government. Mr. Perry:-Our specific complaint is that the Land Board will not receivs applications. Mr. Guthrie.: They will Teceive them. Dr. Boxer said the deputation wanted the misapprehension to bo withdrawn, and Mr. Guthrie answered that thut had been done. Mr. Guthrie added that the deputa. tion could rest assured that Parliament

would do tho right thing when the matter came beforo it. In the meantime, ho wanted to assure them that applications would not, be turned down— they would be considered oh their merits.' Over .£20,000,000 had been spent on the returned soldiers so far, and it required very careful consideration as to where the next million was to como from. Statement by Prime Minister. Mr. Massey thought that what Mr. Guthrie had 6aid would- go a very long way to remove the misapprehension 111 the minds of returned soldiers. Instead of finding, ,£500,001) to keep things going since April, ho had found ,£3,000,C00. Ho did not think tliere had been any breach of faith on that point; The finding ot money for the purcnasp of land' had neither been stopped .nor suspended. In April it had .only been decided to apply the brake. During May the expenditure under tho D.S.S. Act was Jil,-11,300, which showod that expenditure had nor. been stopped or suspended. Tho expenditure for the present month would not be less than £1,000,000. It was not right that the.Government should encourage "anything in tho way of a land boom. Over 92 blocks of land of over 1000 acres ■had been purchased for soldier settlement. In one caso 29,000 acres had "been obtained, and.in another instance. 12,000 j acres. People who had land to sell objected to the brake being applied-becauso they wanted to get tho highest price, but the Government had to think of tho prosperity of the country first, and do everything possible to avoid anything in the way of .depression. The country had a gross deVt of over ,£200.000.000, and within the last few years expenditure had gone up on account of interc ®* "J? sinking funds and pensions by .£7,000,000 per annum. It was going up every day. Market prices were tumbling down, and it had to be rememberefl that a tall in prices would affect every individual in . tho' country, because wo , li\eu on our exports. Many soldier settlers would come out all right, ho believed, and tlwusands could get a profit on their holdings if allow„ed to sell, but the Government could not allow anything in tho way of speculation to go on. They. had. to go carefully and avoid anything in the uay of a boom. Industry hod to be encouraged find exports had to bo increased. If they were not, there would be trouble on account of the tall prices. Consistent with keeping the .finances of the country m a sound condition, everything possible would bo done to put men oil the land. Jttr. Massey urged that it would. bo well worth while for men to take up Crown land. The work was 'hard at farst, but after all they would come out much better than the man who paid a high

price foi* land. Money was dear, and what money New Zealand wanted must lio raised in the Dominion. The British Government to day had to pay up to 7 per cent, on short-dated loans and G per cent, on long-dated loans. Ho hoped Now. Zealand would bo able to get its money satisfactorily, but it roust come from exports. The Housina duestion. Tho Cabinet minute regarding loans, was to tho effect that eft arts should 1m concentrated on settling men on Crown land available and land already purchased operations under section 2, 1917, to be tapered ME; and, no more houses to be purchased in concentrated centres of population unless for special reasons. Mr. Perry: No moro houses to be purchased? . „ , . Mr. Massey: Not in tho centres, of population. Wo have been going too fast and too far, we have put up tho value of houses to an extraordinary degree, and wo cannot go on except for

special reasons. Mr. Guthrie: When there is a special reason why a houso 6hould bo bought it "will be dono. Mr. Massey said 110 wanted to mako it perfectly clear that they could not go on at the rate of one million and a quarter pounds per month. Money had to be found for other . purposes. They would have to tapor off, but the loans would continue.

CONFERENCE DISSATISFIED

STRONG PROTEST RECORDED. The replies givon by tho Primo Minister and the Minister., of Lands wero considered by the conforenco when it resumed its session.

Mr. H. M. Haycock (Palmerston North) moved, and Mr. A. B. Sievwright (Wellington) seconded: "That this con. ferenoe views with regret tho evasive replies mado by tho Prime Minister and the Minister of Lands to the deputation.

■ Several speakers joined in the discussion. and the majority of them took the view that tho replies of the • Minister had been wholly unsatisfactory and that the returned anon throughout the country would be indignant if the conference did not take some definite action 011 tho Tlev. W. "Walker (Christchurch) did not think the motion would have any effect at all because it did not go far enough. Ho moved an amendment that, as the conference was decidedly dissatisfied' with the replies, Messrs. W. Perry and W. 13. Leadloy should draw up a resolution, or series of resolutions, to cover the matter. Tho amendment was carricd. Subsequently, Mr. Perry moved the following resolutions:— ' (1) That this conference expresses its great dissatisfaction with the attitude of tho Prime Minister and Minister of Lands on the question of the D.S.S. Act, as expressed by them to the deputation from this conference this morning. (2j) That this conference accepts tho assurances of tjie Prime Minister and tho Minister of' Lands that instructions have been, given to land boards that applications for loans for the purchase) of houses be received and considered in special cases. (3) That this conference strongly protests against tho decision of Cabinet that such applications be received and considered only in special cases. (4) That this conference regrets exoeedingly that the abovo decision of Cabinet was not made public until the deputation to the Minister ill is morning. (5) That this conference requests tho Government to give an assuraneo forthwith that tho above decision will remain in force only until tile next session of Parliament. (6) That this conference strongly urges ui>on the Government that the cases of men who entered into contracts or obtained options prior to April '22 last, bo treated as special oases within the meaning of the Cabinet minute. 1 (7) That the strongest representations be made to Parliament to appropriate sufficient monev to enable application for loans for tho purchase! of land and houses to be made in tho same maimer as before Cabinet's decision. The resolutions were carried unanimously.