The Mortgage Tax Etc.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 2, Issue 134, 7 October 1913, Page 1

The Mortgage Tax Etc.

| TO THE EDITOR, j Sir, —I am now in a position to reply to the letters of Mujor Luslc and Mr Crispe, appearing in your issue of the 23rd ultimo, under the above heading - . Elsewhere I have complimented both these gentlemen on the moderate tone of their letters,

and the Farmers' Union could not solect more suitable advocates. Dealing with Major Tusk's letter first he has missed tho whole point and contention of my letter as I will presently show. In connection with this mortgage tax question ho says I have made a curious jumble of" Mr Massey, the Reform Party and tho Farmers' Union. lam sure he wi.'l forgive me for saying that I see no sense in a statement of that sort as I rightly and fairly only connected them to tho extent that they equally denounced tho mortgage tax. Previous to the last general election the Fanneis' Union, the Keform Paity and their leader denounced in loud and indignant tones and with plenty of energy, this mortgage tax as an unfair and indirect tax on the farmer. And my challenge was not so much to the Farmers' Union as to the Reform Party to insist on their leader abolishing it, pointing out that ho had allowed two oppoitunities of doing so ;o pass by. I always admired the Farmers' Union's insistent energy when the late Govornmeut were in office, and fearing any falling off in that direction I was offering them a spur up. I notice that Major Lusk now " hopes " that Mr Massey and tho present Government w ill abolish the mortgage tax. Regarding the Elective Executive and Major Lusk's statement that the Farmers'

Union approved of it, I may point out ut the Dominion Conference of tko Union the Elective Executive proposal was turned down, and on tho voices, nearly all tho delegates &peakio.£ strongly in favour of

j party Government " Because, i gentlemen, it's part and parcel of : the British constitution." That is practically the only reason they gave in favour of it. Personally, 1 am thoroughly in favour of the Elective Executive, with the re- : ferendum. and light of recall, ! cjupled with longer terms of | Parliament. However, that will ' rest for the present. j • My contention regarding thu j mortgage tax that Major Lusk evidently missed, was that as long as j the Advances to Settlers Office advanced money to settlers requiring lit at a fixed rate of interest the Lending Institutions in competition | could not pass this (a 1 : on to the \ borrower, but since the Advances | Office has refused to advance money lon encumbered farms to pay off j existing mortgages, there is now no ' competition and they can pass this tax on to the boirower.

t : During the past twelve months ■ : almost every day you heard the exr j pression " Money is Tight." Not so \ j much that interest was up but that : money was hard to get. I will only 1 ! give one of several reasons I could : i give why, in my opinion, money is j tight. During the last year of the ' | Liberal Administration, the Ad--1 | vances to Settlers loaned out to ; farmers on mortgage £2,2.30,000, i two and a quarter millions. During i the twelve mouths of the Massey ! Government tho Advances to Set--1 tiers loaned out to farmers on j mortgage £500,000. That is, one and three-quarter millions less, and : the loans to workers and local I bodies were in the same box iu pro- \ portion. In defending the present Government's policy in the above respect this is what one gentleman said : '• The policy of plunging is one that is minous to the character of the people.'' Mr Russell: '' It kept the rate of intern t down." " The Honouiable gentleman will carry out this plunging policy because he says it will keep the rate of interest down. Does he mean that ? Will ho play ducks and drakes with this country's money, if he gets into office '?"

The Advances to Settlors office loans mon«y only to settlers on lint mortgages, on giked-c-Jgod securities. That has always been tiie case, and is admitted, and any private money-lending institution would only be too pleased to lend the same amounts on the samo securities, only that the cost of valuation, procuration fee, etc., would bo about 000 per cent more. Considering the splendid success of the Advances to Settlers operations anyone of my farmer friends reading the above quotation from Hansard would say that no one but a first-class idiot would say that it was a plunging policy and playing ducks and drakes with the country's money to lend it our. to settlers at the rate of £2,2.30,000 in a year. If so, they are mistaken, as these are the words made use of by Mr Jas. Alien, Ministor of Finance, in Parliament on Juno the 30th, I'JLJ. In the face of this C I suggested activity ou the part of the Farmers' Union, and that the local leaders of the Reform Party are silent over tho mortage tax. etc. They know very well that they fooled the people* at the last election and the people are beginning to know it. too.

Now, turning to Mr Crispe's letter and his highly complimentary remarks as to my own fitness to represent our local branch as a delegate, I may s:;y that vUiea a member of the branch I had no trouble in carrying out all the duties of every otiice I was appointed to, and that 1 never refused an appointment whore I thought I could be of service to my fellow farmers. The success of tho Mauku branch, as I know every member will agree, is in no small measure duo to the appointment of Mr Crispo as secretary. I am pleased to remember that I was one of those who ('id my best to get Mr Crispo to accopt the position. MrCrispeis also aware that I have no objection to social entertainments. In fact I rather like them, and some of rny family generally represent mo. My suggestion was that the Farmers' Union that had done good work in the past, must n6t slack off. In fact, it now requires to be more active and vigilant than ever when wo have a Government in power that in the matter of finance is antagonistic to the best interest of tho farming community, as witness tho above ([notation.

I remember the state of the country just before John Ballance took office. Money dear, labour plentiful and cheap, misery and suffering and hardships. I don't want to see that sort of • renditions in New Zealand again. It's not necessary.—l am, etc. J. Yv r . McLAEIN, Kainni Estate.