—_—— ‘THE OMINEGA MINER, SATURDAY, AUGUST.10, 1912: -. epee ———— nantes The Omineca Miner PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT HAZELTON, THE CENTER OF THE GREAT OMINECA DISTRICT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, Macdonald & Rauk, Publishers and Proprietors. SUBSCRIPTION RATES; Canada and British Possessions, Two Dollars a year; Foreign, Three Dollars a year. ADVERTISING RATES; Display, $1.50 per inch per month; Reading Notices, 15 cents per line for first insertion, 10 cents per line for each subsequent nsertion. Legal notices inserted at B. C. Gazette rates, Vou. I, SATURDAY, AuGusT 10, 1912. No. 50. Of the difficulties which confront settlers in a new district, the most irksome is frequently a lack of money to develop and improve their holdings, That the pioneers who are opening up our agrieul- tural areas are deserving of every assistance cannot be gainsaid, and if the government can afford them the financial relief so often needed it will greatly expedite the development of the immense new districts which are certain to add much to the prosperity of the province asa whole, The question of government loans to farmers has been brought before the legislature by Mr. Lucas, who is now conducting a campaign of education, with the object of pre- paring the country for legislation-which will provide for the for- mation of a loaning fund from which settlers may be assisted in making necessary improvements. In other parts of the British Empire various systems of govern- ment loans have been in operation for sufficient time to demonstrate their practicability and value. The article reprinted below gives some particulars of these operations, and the facts appear to ‘Justi- fy the provincial government should it take immediate action in the direction of financial assistance to the men who are devoting their attention to the opening up of our vast agricultural resources, Cheap Money for Farmers Alexander Lucas, who repre- sents the district of Yale in the provincial legislature, has recent- ly made a communication to the press of British Columbia- in which he deals with the neces- sity of providing cheap money for our farmers. Mr. Laucas paints out that we import $15,- 000,000 worth of farm produce each year and that our farmers donot produce fifty per cent. of what the people of the province consume. Agriculture is the foundation of all permanent in- dustry and is the source of prog- perity in any country, We may say, therefore, that this province is only fifty per cent. as prosper- ous as it should be. Our climate and soil are unsurpassed in the Dominion; the government has established experimental and demonstration farms; good roads and other means of transporta- tion are provided and are continu- ally heing added to; the Depart- ment of Agriculture at Ottawa distributes millions of pamphlets for the assistance of farmers; * there are many farmers’ institu- tes and agricultural societies working all the time to solve agricultural problems, and yet with all this agriculture lan- guishesin British Columbia. Mr. Lucas has put his finger on the source of the trouble in the money question. Farmers need money to de- velop the land, particularly in this country, where most farm- ers have to start in on landin a raw state. Mr. Lucas points out that the public men of Canada and the United States have, in the past, devoted all their atten- tion to commercial and manufac- turing interests and left the farm- er to shift for himself. In sow- ing that wind they are now reap- ing the whirlwind of agricultural depression, which of course re- acts on commercial and industrial propositions. The young and more progres- sive men are leaving the farm - forthe city, and as one conse- quence the cost-of living is soar-| ing. To stay this tide and to turn it in the opposite direction it ia necessary to make farming pleasant and profitable and en- ‘able.the farmers to take advan- tage‘of the most. scientific and ' up-to-date methods of production ‘and sale of their, produce, and the industry must be given the same financial facilities that other industries enjoy. The agriculturist must be able to borrow all the money he can . profitably use, provided hé - has ‘good security to offer, and he should ‘bé able to get it dn- ‘such “ terma of repayment, as would efl-. lable him to meet the paymenta out of the earnings of his farm. pointed hy the government to in- quire into and report on all matters connected with the im- provement and development of agriculture in this province. They will find the solution of the farmer’s troubles in some scheme to provide him with the cheap money that he needs. Investigation has shown: that loans for farmers to be of the the greatest benefit should extend over from ten to fifty years at an interest not exceeding four and a half per cent. What monetary institution in Canada or the United States will lend money on such terms? In Great. Britain;, Australia, New Zealand and France they have plans whereby farmers can obtain money on these terms. In Canada the chartered banks in 1911 had total deposits of over $1,069,000,000, most of which we may say was available for trade and commerce and manufactur- ing enterprises, but the banks are prohibited from lending to farmers on mortgage, ‘ It is reported that in the New England States there are 86,000 deserted farms that were at once under cultivation. Out of 435,- 000 children attending school in Minnesota only four per cent, contemplated following agricul- ture for a livelihood. The situ- ation has become go alarming in the United States that bankers and business men in fourteen states have formed associations to find‘a solution. One firm in Chitago gave a million dollars recently to one of these associa- tions to aid them in the work of investigation and education. It is a matter of prime impor- ‘tance forthe people of this pro- vinee, and indeed throughout ° the whole of Canada, to inform them- selves a8 to whatis being: done in other countries and to agitate for immediate and adequate meas- ures to be taken in the Dominion, The following extract from Mr, Lucas’ paper are intended to form food for thought for our readers, who will be called upon to assist or to oppose the plang of the royal commission now be-/ ing formed to-deal with the agri- cultural needs of British: Colum- bia, Mr. Lucas says: | “Ireland affords a good illus. tration of what long .term loans at low rates of interest and co- operation can. do, There were about 560,000 tenant farmers in ireland when the Imperial: Gov- érnment passed the act authoriz- ing tlie.advanee which made: it During this summer a royal com- mission on agriculture will be ap- possible for the tenant farmer to purchase hisholdings, .. .: “The tenant farmers at that time were described as ‘a shift- less, bankrupt class without hope or ambition.’ In 1911 the report shows that.820,000 of these ten- ant farmers had purchased their holdings and it is reported that not one of them is in arrears, Co-operation under the Irish Agricultural Organization Socte- ties, commonly known as the I. A, 0, S., under the direction of Sir Horace Plunkett, has added greatly to their prosperity, They have 900 societies and 400 co-operative banks. The co-oper- ative banks make small loans for short dates, to enable the farm- ers more successfully to carry on this season's work. The Irish farmer is now described as having developed into a self-respecting, prosperous husiness man, and agriculture as a profitable and pleasant industry, “In France they havea plan known as the Credit Foncier sys- tem, under the control and direc- tion of the government. The money is raised by the sale of government guaranteed bonds, This plan provides that a farmer may borrow up to 60 or 70 per cent. of the value of hig farm for any term of years up to fifty, ‘They alsn have co-operative banks for short term loans, The Bank of France also makes short term loans to farmers amounting in the aggregate to about $50,000,- 000 annualy, They report that the loss by bad debts is infinitesi- mal, being less than in any other line of credit they. give, And largely as a result of these very liberal financial facilities 90 per eent. of the French families own the houses they live in and the land they cultivate, and it is ‘claimed that they are the wealth- iest peasantry in the world. Not long ago a flotation. of $60,000,000 of railroad stock was offered to the public. It was over-sub- seribed 324 times. amounted to about $2,000, 000,000 and it ia admitted that about 8 per cent, of this enormous sum of money belonged to the agricultural and working classes. In Germany they have a plan known as “The Land Schaften System.’ This is ‘similar to the Credit Foncier, They also have co-operative banks for short term | loans, In addition to that the Imperial Bank of Germany’ each year loans through bankers about, $60,000,000 to the farmers, with- out loss. In. Denmark, .co-opera- tion in production and selling has been carried to greater : perfec- tion possibly -than in any other country, They also have co-oper- ative banks. “In all the states of the Com- monwealth of Australia they have systems similar to the French Credit Foncier system, and a one state may be taken ag rep- resentative of how it works in all. Act No, 1482, passed December 24th, 1896, established this sys- tem in the State of Victoria, Aus- tralia. The act provides for the management of the system by five commissioners and an inspec- tor-general, The commissioners iasued ‘mortgage. ‘bonds, Such bonds are guaranteed by the government, The money raised loaned to farmers on first’ mart- gage in sums of not less than £50 borrower, and.up to 60 per’ cent. of the value of the farm property offered as security. The value to be decided-by a valuator ap- pointed by the commissioners, The loans bear interest at the rate of 43 per, cent., payable half-}:. yearly; and extending over a period up to 80k years. A.sum equal to6 percent. on the amount borrowed will. pay off principal and interest in 814 years, The loans may be paid off at any time by paying the ‘interest upto the date of repayment. and the bal- ance of the priiicipal. then re: maining due. “In gome of the other states, 7 New South Wales, for: inatance, |* none of the principal is pald dur- The total description of how it works in| by the sale of ‘such: bonds: is}; y bn tay Ponds ’ is assembly have passed the follow- and not more than £2,000 to any |.’ ing the first five years, but is re- paid during the next succeeding twenty-five years, The total number of applications received by the commissioners from Dec- ember 24th, 1896, to June. 80th, 1911, was 9,407, amounting to a total of £4,612, 955; total number. applications granted were 6,770, amounting to. £2,906,515; total number of applications for which reduced amounts were offered but not accepted were 1,187, amounting to £819,165; total number of applications declined were 1,500, amounting to £705,- 870. Of the loans granted #1,599,858 have been repaid, leaving outstanding current loans on the 20th June, 1911, amount- ing to £1,806,657, - As security for this sum the commissioners hold first mortgages on improved farm property valued by their own appraiser at £2,952,445, The amount of farm property. acquired by foreclosure, nil; Re- serve fund over and above work- ing expenses to provide for any possible loss £84,768. were only six farmers in arrears and the total amount of arrears amounted to £68 9s, “On the 30th June, 1900, the land under cultivation in Victoria, Australia, was 2.868,305 acres, On the 30th June, 1909, it was 4,063,801 acres; an increased area brought under cultivation in nine years of 1,195,496 acres, which is an amount almost equal to the total amount brought un- der cultivation inthe state during the 100 years ending the 30th June, 1900, The other day nine hundred immigrants had work found for them within two hours of their arrival in Melbourne, and by reason of the credit afforded the farmers by “the Credit Foncier system, seventy per cent, of the men, found work on the land, “Victoria’s exports of meat, wool, butter, cheese, wheat and other products of the farm have inereased from nothing until now they amount to hundreds of mil- lions, and chiefly attributable to long term loans afforded farmers by the Credit Foncier system. ‘All other states havea similar system and are ‘equally satisfac- tory. , “New Zealand has a slightly different plan. The farming in- and bounds since the introdue- tion-of the act authorizing ad- vances to settlera. The exports of farm produce have increased from almost nothing until now they amount to ten million dol- lars’ worth of butter, half a mil- lion bales of wool, over five ‘mil- ‘lion carcasses of mutton; they els‘of wheat annually and other products of the farm i in like pro- portion. _ “The Nova Scotia Legislature during the last session passed a bill entitled. ‘An Act for the En- advances by the government to prove of the plan provided, it is e@and made mort workable at the next-session of the house,” | “Tha Saskatchewan legislative ‘ing resolution: ‘* ‘That in the opinion of ‘this house it is expedient that the government should inquire into the question of. obtaining money interest to farmers in the pro- yinee,’ . It is also being made a public question in Alberta and Manito- ‘ba, and from. what T. learn will oon. be, 80-in Ontario, I believe how.to provide money. for long term: loans: to farmers: at. . low tateg of. intereat, and éo-opera- tion; these | being secured,, ‘all other questions will be. easy.’ doe ea ream Sundies | at the “On the 30th June, 1911, there| dustry has increased by. leaps’ ‘also grow about ten million bush- couragement of Settlement on| Farm Lands,’ which provides for] : farmers, and while I do not ap-|-- . a step in the right direction, and | tthe act -will, no doubt, be amend-| for making loans at a low rate of ||] ‘the most important ‘questions are} - 27H HNO HMEMMNCMMNMUNCHMEMRESOD i NATANMAACHATNMENNNES . 7 -Hitdson! s Bay Stores. 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