ADVANCES. TO SETTLERS AND WORKERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 394, 26 March 1908, Page 2

ADVANCES. TO SETTLERS AND WORKERS.

In a speech at Cheviot last week, Dr Findlay, the Attorney-General, quoted some interesting figures in reference to the Government Advances to Settlers and Workers Department. He said: “Roughly, there have been twenty thousand settlers who have bad advances under the Advances to Settlers’ Act. They have received between seven and eight millions. This year, closing 31st March, will probably be a record year. At the end of December last we had advanced under the Advances to Settlers’ Act about ,£875,000, and by the end of this month the amount will probably be over a million. This, however, takes no account of ,£300,000, which will probably be the amount of our advances to workers. A worker is one who can show that he is earning less than ,£2OO a year, and has not landed property in his name. The Act, so far as it applies to workers, has been in operation about nine months, and already about one thousand loans have been made, and the number is increasing as time goes on, and at the present rate it will certainly reach 1500 applications a year. The object of the Govern merit is to assist the workers as far as it possibly can, short of incurring any actual loss. The advance is made at the rate of 1% per cent, and up to 75 per cent of the value of the property the worker wishes to acquire. This advance is made not only upon freehold, but also upon leasehold. To take a concrete example: If a worker has £■ll2, and finds a piece of land, and desires to build a house at, say, £350, making a total outlay £450, and he has, as I have said, £ll2, the State will lend him the balance of £450— namely, £338. No charge whatever is made for mortgage fees or other legal expenses. There is no procuration fee, as in the case of private loans. He is not fined or punished by compound interest should there be any case of real hardship and he is unable to pay the interest when due. By paying per cent upon the money lent him by the Government, he pays off both interest and principal. He may pay it off in instalments of £5 or multiples of 25 ; he may pay it off altogether when it suits him. Thus in the case in question of a house and land costing him £450, if he pays at the rate of 7s 2d a week, the principal and interest are both paid off, and the property becomes his own, entirely free from the debt. Or to take another illustration, if he saves 9s a week, and puts it in the Savings Bank, he has £25 at the end of the year, and to every £25 he so saves, the Government will add £75 to enable him to buy or build a home. The class who are taking advantage of these facilities include mostly married men with families, but also hard-working spinsters, who seek to acquire a Itttle home as they got older.”