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Hokitika Guardian, 11 April 1932, Page 4

The task of the Government to bring down interest rates and rent is probably one of the most unpleasant. This is of course .socialistic legislation in the extreme, but the action is governed by the general state of affairs. r I he proposal is disturbing 'as a general principle, for a contract has been considered a definite ammgement to lie duly fulfilled. But a set jof circumstances has arisen which affects the whole community as never before. The country has overborrowed, as it has overspent. The day of reckoning has arrived, and 1 the. funds available are n'St equal to the demands. All classes of tlfe .community are being affected by the course of events, and the ramifications of trade are such that all must make some sacrifice' in the present difficult times, or it will he difficult and long to extricate the country. The Economic Committees reviewed 1 the matter closely, and the Minister of Finance argued the matter out closely in his recent ‘statement. It i.s a very difficult and intricate problem, for in local and public debts the conditions are such that one method or scheme, may not apply. to the other. Mr Stewart made plain what the difficulties were, and he gave way in the end in adopting the views of the Cabinet majority, This difference of opinion, will of course crop up, but in the end it seems clear some definite course must be steered, and the , majority is entitled to decide seeing that the question has been weighed and reviewed in the first place by experts whose opinions were digested and acted upon by the men responsible to shape a definite policy. Here again, there will be differences of public opinion, b'ut such a wide range of financial trading has to he considered. The plan proposed is intended To cover mortgages, public internal debt, local body indebtedness, and also l the rates of interest on deposits. It is, of coiirsc, a very unusual, not to say extreme step to take, but it is another instance of matters being judged and' managed in keeping with me times. At the same time it is regarded probably as one of the strongest links in the chain to pull the eountrv back into less critical times..