DOMINION'S FINANCE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 76, 20 March 1914, Page 3

DOMINION'S FINANCE.

SIR JOSEPH WARD REPLIES TO THE PREMIER. [Pkb Press Association.] : Wellington, March 18. Sir Joseph, Ward, speaking at a social tendered to Lady Ward by the Women's Social and Political League, dealt briefly with financial matters. He said that Mr Massey's statement at Nelson that any of the settlers present could have financed the country better than the Liberals did, was ridiculous. Sir Joseph believed the country's position was financially strong to-day, and it was so when the Liberals left office. No Treasurer. of the Dominion had been left in a stronger position that the present Minister for Finance. They had never found the Liberals injuring the credit/ of the country. ' The Liberals had never done anything to discredit the Treasurer's leaving these shores for Home to. obtain a loan. The last loan was well subscribed, but how did the Reform Government account for the fact that the Russian loan was subscribed, not fourfold, but seventytwo fold? The Liberal finance had never failed* to give sufficient money for the country's • needs. Renewals of loans were going on during the whole period the,, Liberals were in office, but the Liberals had not been so foolish as to ;talk-about them on the platform until they were completed. While in opposition, the Reformers had endeavored to discredit the Liberal Administration, yet as soon as they got into office they used the Liberals' successes as aids to obtain their own loans. .