DAMAGING OWN CREDIT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 320, 6 September 1932, Page 6

DAMAGING OWN CREDIT

ALARMIST REPORTS The following letter, which is a copy of one forwarded to the Prime Minister by the City Council, of Nelson, may be of interest to readers. It was forwarded to the Opotiki Hospital Board with a request for their support in the matter: — Sir, — I am directed by the Nelson City Council to send you herewith a copy of a resolution passed by it unanimously protesting against the uncensored and indiscriminate publications in outside countries of reports of alleged happenings detrimental to the fair name and financial stability of the Dominion. The grave danger following upon tbe circulation of untrue reports concerning New Zealand was brought home to the council under tbe following circumstances. Certain of the Nelson City Council loans became due for repayment on the first day of May last, and a large proportion of the debentures 1 securing the same happened to be ' held by investors residing in England. One of the members of the council ! (Dr. S. A. Gibbs), being now, for- | tunately, in England, the council r-e-j quested him to interview the -debeni ture holders to renew their respecj tive holdings. Cr. Gibbs went to an ! immense amount of trouble but f ound his efforts seriously impeded by tbe | press propaganda concerning New ; Zealand. I cannot do better than ; quote from a letter which he has written to His Worship the Mayor, reporting the results of his efforts. He states: — i "On my arrival in London I interviewed our agents, the Bank of New Zealand, regarding the position and success of the renewal of our elec- ! tric light and antecedent liability loan and found that approximately only something under £40,000 had been reapplied for out of the £100,000 offered. ! In my 'opinion, in view of all the circumstances, this was satisfactory. What are the circumstances referred ' to? They are these. New Zealand is a small country and still comparatively unknown, small investors and the people generally are dependent largely on the press for the opinions formed. What has appeared in the press? Certainly nothing in' favour of New Zealand. Nothing to its credit in the sliape of record wool and fruit crops, of increasing pastoral areas and greatly increased milk products output, and so on and so on. Certainly everything possible to its discredit. First of all the wide and misleading publicity given to the earthquakes, then to the Government deficits, and then as a final straw to the riots and the hundreds of thousands of damage done, and then the defic'ts again and again. Since I left New Zealand, botli in the East, in the Englisli Continental papers, and here in London the only New Zealand news has been on tliese lines and dealing with one or more of these aspects. Can we wonder that the investor gets frightened? Further, another member of the council, who is a subscriber to certain Irish newspapers, reports to the council that the same system of adverse reports prevails in these publications as those to which Cr. Gibbs refers. In addition the son of another councillor, who resides in America has reported on identically the same lines. Tbe council views with great concern the unrestricted circulation of , reports of the nature complained of I and feels that if a comparatively ' small place such as Nelson has suffered so definitely as a result, the , damage to the Dominion as a whole must be very extensive indeed. The council considers that the New Zealand Government should talce such steps as it can to remedy the evil j complained of. j The council recognises that it is not possible to prevent all bad news . being sent out, but the trouble seems to be that news which reflects the credit and stability of the Dominion appears to be considered unworthy of . transmission.