STATE GUARANTEED ADVANCES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 936, 31 December 1910, Page 2

STATE GUARANTEED ADVANCES.

Tire New Zealand State Guaranteed Advances Act, passed last session, is to a considerable extent a machinery Act, but in all cases the rate of interest is limited to .[4 per cent., and full provision is made for auditing link the Am! it Office. Provision 'unde fut issuing of debenture;, ni sacii.ised.icu> of purchase money or compensation for lands acquired under the Band for Settlements Act. Special provisions are also made as to certain loans to settlers and workers: In the case of a firstclass security all loans are to be lor thirty-six and a-half years ; on a second-class security the loans are to be lor thirty years ; and on a third-class security the term of the loan is limited to twenty years. Power is given to the Governor (.which in this case means the Government) to make regulations for the classification of securities, aud by these regulations the Advances Board will be bound. Another section provides that advances to settlers may be advanced by instalments based on the value of improvements effected. Power is given to the superintendent to lease laud in the case of default, “ with or without a right of purchase.” The deliniliou of “worker” under the advances to workers section of the Act has been amended, aud now reads; “Workers mean a person employed in manual or clerical work, and who at the lime of his application is not in receipt of an income of more than .£2OO per annum, aud is not the owner of any land (and here is the chief amendment) other than the land which he offers as security tor the loan for which application is made.” Further, provision is made by which a worker may apply lor a loan, not only for the.. ( erection but tbe acquisition oJL a dwelling-house and forj the granting of a loan on a house so acquired. Previously the Act only contemplated the lending of the money on houses to be erected. The new Act provides for the raising of loans for the purpose of acquiring houses already erected, but the limit of advances is still fixed at ,£450. Bocal authorities may also be granted further loans where the amount of the original loan is lound to be insufficient, where the amount required is not greater than 10 per cent, of the sum originally authorised by the ratepayers without taking a further poll and in such a case the local authority may strike a special rate as security lor the interest and other charges. * *