A NIGGARDLY RESPONSE.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 40, 10 November 1937, Page 4

A NIGGARDLY RESPONSE.

Througliout tbe wide area that was so disastroosly affected by the earthquake of Pebfuary,1931, there will be a feeling of very keeh disappointment at the niggardly response whieh the Government has made to the appeal of loeal hodies for some remission in respect of the State loans made to them for the pnrpose of restoring pnblie serviees and facilities that had been degtroyed or disloeated. We have all along contended that, from the first, the so-called "rehahilitation" fund provided by Parliament was not admini^tered at all in the spirit of profonnd sympathy displayed by all the people of the coimtry at the time of the catastrophe. Had their wishes been consulted, there can be no doubt that the vote made wottld have been applied in a much more liberal and generous way than it was, Among them it was generally understood that the public funds thus provided would be used for the pnrpose, as far as practicable, of permanently reliiving the sni'iviers fi-om the effects of the losses they had sustained. Instead of that, they were used in sueh a way as merely to impose fresh interest-carrying personal and communify liabilities strecthing away over another twenty or thirty years— really an incubus rather than a relief. There was perhaps some little excuse for the Government of the day adopting this course, inasmnch as the country was then passing through a time of very serious economic depression when money was hard to find. In fact, for the purpose in view recourse had to be taken to a London reserve fund that had previously been regarded as saered. The position jjust now has entirely changed jVith conditions altered very markedly for the better in the mfrin market for our.export products, we are enjoying a very definite return of general prosperity, while our now Prime Hinister has told us time and again that "it was all nonSense" tovtalk of money not being available for any reasonable pur- * pose, tbat "the money was there to be had for the asking," alid ^ that "in futuire .nothing was going to suffer for laek of money." Yet when Hawke's Bay local authorities approach him with a very reasonable request that some substantial concession should be made to them in reSpeetof these earthquake ' Joans — •which should really have been grants — the most he can find it in his heart to do is to reduce the rate of interest from 4 to 3^ per cent.— -for which one may well say, "thank you for nothing."

The strange part of it is that this follows closely upon a decision to forgo all interest upon personal loans that were made out of the Same fund, as if a community embracing ratepayers of all classes were not entitled to at least the same consideration as these more fortunate individuals. Then, again, if interest is still tq be insisted upon, we may cbntrast the 3^ per cent. now prescribed with the per cent with Which, so it is generally understood, the Government is debiting itself in its Reserve Banki account for hoqse-building and other public works upon vrhich it has embarked. JVhy, it may be asked, tbis so marked distinction? When, sbortly after the earthquake, a parliamentary party visited the scene of devastation and desolation there were none more pronounced in their expressions of sympathy than the Labour members included in it. Then, to invoke a voice from the grave, who was there that more strongly advocated dealing generously with the afflicted communities than did the late Mr H. E, Holland, then leader of the Labour Oppositioh? Ap- . parently, however, all this fine fellow-f eeling has evaporated with the years and the most his successor as head of the party, with full power now in his hands to give practieal expression to it, can do is to reduce the rate of interest by one-half of ohe per cent. And this, too, is after giving us all the confideilt assurance that, " they were now working on a new policy and it was no longer necessary to wait for money,'' and that, "no matter what might be read in the newspapers, there was nothi- ing to worry ahout." .