NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1826, 12 August 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Not tlio least important of the matters which will come before Parliament'during the present session is tho question' of the futuro relations of the State towards the Bank of New Zealand. The very wide divcrgcrfco of,' opinion between the | State's representatives on tlte Board of Directors of the Bank and the |'shareholders' directors as to what is the fair and just course to pursue in the interests alike of the shareholders and the Stato makes the position a difficult one for Parliament to decide. Most people we believe, are inclined to the view that it ■is undesirable to associate politics and -banking, and there are many who hold that the Government should take the opportunity, now afforded of cutting loose altogether from the Bank of New Zealand. Against this, of course, is the fact that the previous experience with the institutionwhen the country had to come to its rescue makes it desirable—in view of the enormous influence it exercises on the financial, business, and producing interests of the Dominion— that some safeguard should bd provided to ensure against a recurrence of such a situation. We ourselves as we have explained on previous occasions are inclined to this latter opinion. It is a difficult matter to suggest the exact nature of the safeguards required, but it is interesting to note that the shareholders' committee which waited on the Minister of Finance yesterday put forward definite proposals on the subject. AVe would commend to the attention of members of Parliament and to the public generally the very clear and comprehensive statement of the position f?om the' shareholders' point of view placed before the Minister by Mn. S. Kiekoaldie, Chairman of tho, Shareholders' Committee. It is we'll worth perusal, and, with the recommendations of the Chairman of the Bank, Mr. H. Beauchamp, covers practically the whole ground of controversy. , •

The signing of the peace treaty by the Balkan States and Grecce holds out prospects for an improvement in the financial and commcrcial markets of the world. The millions wasted in warfare, the loss of production in the countries overrun by the armies of the belligerents, the generally unsettled state of the financial markets of the world owing to the possibilities of dangerous complications arising and embroiling one or more of the great nations of Europe—these losses and restraints on business and commercial enterprise have for the time being ended. Unfortunately the terms of settlement'have been such that, it is by no means certain that therie will not bs unpleasant aftereffects, and an outbreak of further trouble at no distant date. .In the meantime, however, there should be some relief from the tension which has prevailed throughout Europe. And unless serious trouble should develop out of the situation between the United States and Mexico, an improvement in the money market may be looked forward to.

This is ..the sort of thing some of the Opposition journals resort to nowadays: The anti-Reform journal in Christchurch (anxious to discredit the exposure of the Continuous Ministry's reckless' finance -made by Mr. James Allen in the Budget presented to Parliament last week) wrote: He constructed a number of ingenious tables from selected figures and selected dates in the hope of making it appear that he and his colleagues bad put the public accounts in a ninth stronger position than they lied found tliem. All they really did show, however, was that the Jicformers borrowed more money during their first year of office- than the Liberals did during their last year. Jn lflll-12 the public debt increased by ,£L',S(i!),fi7i; in 1!II2-1:S it increased by .G5,70G,8j0. If this statement is meant to convey anything at all it is that the MassEy Government were responsible for incroasitiß the publio debt during their flrsrfi year' of office by £5,700,850,

whereas the Ward Government in its last year of office only increased it by Ji2,869,()7'1. Such a statement would be deliberately untrue. The Budget, figures as the V.'iter must have known covered three months of the Mackkn'zib Government's term of office and nine months of the Llassev Government, the Mackenzie Government raised a loan of £4,500,000 during that period. The Ik'form journal in Chri.stchurc.il pointed out the gross misrepresentation saddling the Massey Government with the borrowings of the Mackenzie Government, and this is the mean manner in which the Opposition organ attempted to cover up its dishonesty;

■ What wd iliil say in effect, and what vro repeat now, is that during the Reformers' first year of oflice the public debt was increased Ijy JE5,706,850. The .various loans thai made up this total nro set out in expansive detail on pa?es 10 and 11, of the Budge!:, and are plain for anybody to see. Everyone knows that Mr. Myers's loan iva< raised before .Air. Allen went to the Treasury —on Juno 7, 3912, to bo exact—but it would liave been raised just tho same if the Reformers Irad taken office at the end of March instead of at the beginning of July.

First it attempts to saddle the Massey Government with the responsibility for the loan; then when its -deliberate misrepresentation is exposed it has not the honesty or decency fco acknowledge the injustice it has done, but aggravates its offence by attempting to defend its misrepresentation oil the absurd pretext that if the Massey Government had been in office at the time it would have raised the loan. The opponents of the Government are desperately driven for material with which to attack Ministers when they have to resort to such obviously dishonest misrepresentation.