FARMS AND MORTGAGES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 450, 4 September 1928, Page 12

FARMS AND MORTGAGES

DIFFERENT VIEWS ON LAND VALUES MINISTER ON STATE’S DUTY In his speech at Waitoa last evening, the Hon. A. D. McLeod, Minister of Lands, made reference to the difficulties which were being faced by settlers on over-mortgaged farms. Mr. McLeod said he received repeated complaints that the Government valuations were too high in the rural districts where there was local rating on capital values. From the same districts there were complaints concerning the lowness of Government valuations for loan purposes. In one case brought to his notice, he found that although the valuation placed on the farm was higher than when it was purchased in 1920, it was lower than the amount of the existing mortgage by almost 20 per cent. This position did, unfortunately, exist, and he found after examining many cases that those responsible for the formation of the Country Party in the first place were farmers about to lose their homes, or the Farmers’ Union man who' believed that the time had come for the Government to lend the necessary money, or compel the mortgagee to reduce his mortgage. He reminded farmers that the Government could not remove financial obligations to the State except by transferring the burden from one section of the community to another.