“BORROW AND BURST”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 492, 23 October 1928, Page 12

“BORROW AND BURST”

! £70,000,000 LOAN DEFENDED CURING THE COUNTRY’S ILLS “The Prime Minister has described ! Sir Joseph Ward’s scheme to borrow | £7O 000,900 us ’borrow, boom and buist. He should lia\ie employed two ot those words and applied them to himself —borrow and burst.’ In the past three years liis Government has borrowed £24,000,000 and during that time New Zealand has had an unequalled amount ol' unemployment.” This statement, in defence of the United Party’s £70,000,000 loan scheme, was made by Mr. J. B. Donald, the United candidate for Auckland East, during an address at the Newmarket Public Hall last evening. Tho hall was filled with a goodhumoured audience, and though the i andidate was heckled a little, especially by two men in the front row, he was „ accorded a vote of thanks and confidence at the close of the meeting Sir Joseph Ward had never suggested that the whole £70,000,000 should be borrowed in one vear, said Mr. Donald. The day after Sir Joseph’s speech he had received a copy of tho United Party’s manifesto. it had been posted at least 24 hours earlier, before the speech was delivered, and it stated distinctly that the borrowing would be spread over eight to ten years. The loan terms mentioned by Sir Joseph had been 4t per cent, at 95. The candidate’s opinion was that it would be possible to get money at much less than that figure. There was a. tendency toward cheaper money and he would not be surprised if there was a fall of 5 per cent, in the next six months, which would be all the bettor for New Zealand. No one should quarrel about the United Party’s proposal to spend £10,000,000 on completing main railway lines, said Mr. Donald. Such a step would provide a remedy for unemployment and provide work for thousands of men. “We can also put a tremendous lot of people on the land if we spend £60,000,000.” he concluded. “And remember that every man on the land means work for two more in the city. We shall not have to worry about unemployment when we start putting neople on the land and begin our railway policy, and a good roading policy as well.”