The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1919. THE VICTORY WAR LOAN.

Taihape Daily Times, 2 October 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1919. THE VICTORY WAR LOAN.

With which ils incorporated “The Taihape Post: and Waimarino News.”

.._.____4._______.. I There is said to be a fair response": to the appeal made for contributions‘ to the “Victory War Loan,’l’ but it may prove troublesomeito those who,’ by; the nature of their incomes», and failure to respond as they should have done to previous,,loans_, omit to fulfil! their lawful obligations in the present call for money to enable the State to a pay its war debts. Much of the money is. wanted for payments‘ that‘ have to be made to returned soldiers, and to the dependents of those who will never return, -having made the greatest sacrifice that man can be called upon to make for his country. ;T.he war {expenditure of this little ‘country had mounted up to no less lthan about eighteen millions a year.‘ lor, one-and-a-half millions per month. Nit has now decreased, however, to less‘, |than half-a-million per month, and is‘ still going down, but there will be considcrable outlay in keeping up hospi-t tals for badly’wounded_men, and in-ll . '. \ . . . l stitutions for vocational training, for} .leng -into the future. Gratuities to; fsoldiers and repatriation expenses all Ehaveato be “provided for ,fr.o,m the Vic-j {tory W-ar Loan, and, realising the ur"gent nature of, the.lia_bili_ty. the man ‘who has but one pound he ,can_.spare 1,-may_ invest in -a- .War Certificate at the fPost=;,Oflice, and justly feel aslproud, lief having done his _duty by the war‘ as the rich‘ man who takes up _his {thousands worth. of inscribed stock_ Thereis left no room for people to urge that they have no,rea'dy cash available, because the various banks will advance to their respective cus‘tomers ninety per cent. of the whole? lsum any man can make it convenient to invest. As Sir Joseph Ward said in the House, “It is the duty of every Member of Parliament to help. to get 7133, loan; it is the duty of the people who have the money to lend it, and it is the duty of others, who have not actually got the money available, to do what has been done by hundreds‘ ‘of people during the war, lltllllßljv', go ,to their banker and obtain it." Continuing, he said, “The country helped ‘them by sending away to the front ‘men who ‘were prepared to make the supreme sacrifice, and who, by doing so, preserved the assets of the country for -the-people. It is now the duty of those who havebcen protected to do ,all_ in their power to maintain the 'country’s financial position, and to (‘meet the whole of the war reu_llircments.".’ The difiiculties surrounding the la.un_ching of a system of loan-rais-ing are very great, and there has been considerable outcry against the 4.12 per cent. interest on investments free of income tax, It is evident that taxation must be largely increased in the {near future no matter what Governlment may be in power, and it is equalily evident that those subscribers to previous loans at 4% per cent. will have }to furnish at lea.st three-fourths of ,that increased, taxation. To have paid , a higher rate of interest liable to taxation would ill the present, and the late Finance Ministers’ opinion have uled to an increase in the rate of interiest generally, which would -have provled a calamity to men who find it nelccssary to borrow, but it is on the ‘masses generally that the burden of high rates of interest fall. New Zeagland has raised the War money refiquired cheaper than any other country, the main guidance being preven‘tion of making money dearer to those »whom circumstances comp-31 to borrow. To have fixed a lower rate of interest would have rendered war bonds and stock of less value as a security, and may have made it impracticable for a class of lender to take up war securities, who have under present conditions lenta very large proportion of what is required. That Victory War Loan stock is excellent security ‘is demonstrated in the fact that banks will lend up -to 99 per cent. of their lface value, It -has been argued by some men that there was no necessity to have come to the country for war purposes, it should all have -been borrowed from banks, but a moments thought is sufficient to convince anyone of the folly of any such blunder. Production cannot proceed on the highest level unless banks can continue to help farmers, but if bank cof.fers, were drained by the Government there would?b§'little‘or nothing for helping farmers to produce biggest

crops of meat, wool or _any.othel' pro-

Iduct. Farrners would have been forcNed into the hands of the “Shylock” 'class, and interests would have soared ‘as a consequence. .In the very bes-t interest.s of men on the land, and of ‘labour and the masses generally it cannot be denied that an equilibrium has been maintained in the movement of money and interests that it is not possible to improve upon from either a national or individual standpoint. When the crash of new ‘taxation does come lenders in the Victory War Loan will not be penalised for having done their duty to their country as far as practicably lay in their “power, and the country will not suffer by any calam‘itous increase in rates of interest. Any man or woman having a pound to spare should invest it for the purposes the loan is raised, for by so doing they are helping in finding the money that is I‘C('iLlil'Cd to nurse Wounded soldiers in {hospital back to health and strength. The last date for receiving contributions to the Victory Ward Loan is the ninth of the present month, and for the credit of the country it is hoped the £lO,-00_0,000 will be fully subscribed.