UNITED’S LOAN PROPOSAL

Hokitika Guardian, 8 November 1928, Page 8

UNITED’S LOAN PROPOSAL

NO TAXATION REQUIRED.

SIR JOSEPH WARD'S EXPLANATION.

'kSiiieo I delivered tlie policy of the United party in' Auckland, the Prime 1 Minister. Ministers and candidates seem to Imve ■-pent their time in criticising the policy I have submitted on hehall’ of the United party.” said Sir •Joseph Wiird in a stiitenient issued hast week. “The reason is ohvions, namely, hecaiise they li.ave no policy of their own. That is the hip; difference in this campaign: the United parly has a definite policy. Generalisations and deliberate misrepresentations have formed the chief ingredients of the Reform political pie.

"I summarise the outstanding features of the United Parly’s policy by

staling:—Q) That land selt.|one , nl form' one of the United oarty’s first planks: that funds for obtainin'' further lands will lie provided. a c T have done on former occasions frequently, hy payment in Governmen‘ bonds. To complete speedily, that is. within the next few vears. the wlc'l of tin' authorised long-distance red wavs by letting several contracts lo' each section. (3) Hv utilising Urn suniL's I:’Lour of the .country on reprodnd iv works in mnkine (lies', sections of railways available for truffle tha * will pay the interest noon cost of construction and eliminate the ca"*- - '' of the waste of hundreds ol thousands of pounds annually goins/' >e hy making the railways earning

faefoivs. fd) Raising that money at 11k rate of six to eight millions pc annum, witli a maximum, over tha< period ol years, ol sixty millionsassuming that this maximum amount over that "eriod will he required for settlers’ lands and home* and workers’ homes. ObviousK. d the total is not required, the average amount that is reouired pe v annum up to sixty millions shouh he obtained. ALL LOANS IN ENGLAND. “There is no taxation whatever. 1 •1 {Krni deliberately, required for eithethe money for settlers or workers homos, or for the completion ol the railways. Tn the latter case, whatevc ihe ivu'centage earned hy the railways :t, will he applicable to the completed lines as well as the present ones. “1 prono'p that the whole of the moneys for these nurpnses should he got in England and not in New Zealand. 1 make this statement because some of my critics are suggesting that II prohaihlv intend that New Zealand should he diawn upon in this respect This disadvantages of doing anvtliiieof ’'b-d will he recognised hy any tiiinking person.” After affirming the great need for a vigorous land settlement policy. including thi' compulsory sale of lands Sir Joseph said : NO LOSS OL .MONEY.

“Xow a few words about the enormous loss that some of my critics do ■•lare will be made upon the sixty millions under the system that I propose of bonds at Do at -1. l per emit. Let anyone—lit 1 does not require to be an actuary—calculate what 1 per cent pc annum sinking fund represents on sixty millions sterling. Ife will find that it amounts'to £(>00.000 per annum. Haro those people who are talking about losses taken tills into account, and do tney recognise that each year £(>()().000 additional monev to the sixty millions is available, and will he invested? That is an addition of £19,590,<X>0 production by 1 per cent over the lull period of tie 1 loan of 32 V years. Moreover, fhe interest earned upon the £10.000.0 Id would he a.vailelide each year in addition to what I have already shown. “Now let Us look at the loss ol the 5 per cent hy issuing bonds at 95 on I he sixty millions. Thai represents a loss of £3,000,000 on Liu 1 whole of fhe amount of the money T propose to borrow for settlers and workers. Anyone can prove that the 1 per cent sinking fund produces £19,500.000 in 32V years. Mow those who misrepresent the proposal in order to make it look had eaii ask any sane person to believe that a loss i s to be made is beyond my comprehension. One must assume that they consider everybody who reads their statements lias no intelligence. As a matter of fact, it would be impossible to invest sixty millions in the first year, or to obtain sixty millions in one financial transaction in London, or any where else. STATE ADVANCES SUCCESS, “The fact remains that much worse things were said when I established

the present Stale Advances Department years ago. The opposition to it was so great that Cabinet decided that I had to go to London to attend to the flotation of tile first loan. Our opponents declared that we could not get tin' money; that if we got it. we could not lend it ; and that it we lent it. we would lose the greater proportion of it. Wo got the loan, which was largely oversubscribed, anti tip to date some forty millions sterling lias been lent. The Department lias made a profit, and a huge profit, every year over the whole period. Its losses have been infinitesimal, and Iniye been covered over and over again out of prolits. It saved thousands of people from ruin in this country, and it bellied to put thousands of people upon the land. PUBLIC WORKS LOANS.

“I wish to say that II am not in favour of going on the London market for Public Works loans, as is tin* ■ase now, and which, as I have pointed out in I lie House, tends to financial embarrassment. I would provide for these, as I did for many years, being largely met out ol revenues, towards Liu* construction of Public Works throughout the Dominion. My chief concern is that- there appears to lie no discernment on the part ol the Government authorities between a policy of drill as against one of sfrengt.li. I made inquiries in London as to whether we could sell our L\ per cent bonds at Do. and I was assured that this could lie done. 1 was assured, also, hy a large contractor in England that In* would Ik* quite prepared lo fender for I lie whole of the rail-, ways to he constructed in New Zen land, and to accept payment for the same in -|.l per cent bonds at Do in Loudon.

“In conclusion, I say that. I have, as Minister of Einani.-e in the past, paid for areas ol land lor settlement on a similar basis to that I am now recommending, namely, by the issue of bonds, never-—so far as my recollection goes- at over o per cent, payable in Loudon, and they have not. so far as I. am aware, ever been put publicly on the market there.’