GERMAN BONDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1921, Page 5

GERMAN BONDS.

REALISING ON THEM. On December 1, Germany is to pay Great Britain £550,000,000 worth of bonds. Of this, £50,000,000 goes to the Dominions. In due course Germany will pay about £1,200,000,000 in bonds to Great Britain and the Dominions. Mr. Alfred Rigland, chairman of the Empire Development Parliamentary Committee, maintains that these bonds should not lie idle until they mature in 30 years. The Government should place their guarantee on the back and place them on the open market in Britain, in America and elsewhere. Thus, the bondholder would get the interest coming from Germany, but the British Government, would have in hand a great amount of ready money, which should be used for development purposes in every part of the Empire. This money would go to finance corporations and parties of men wherever hitherto ’undeveloped country is • found, but not to settle men on land already opened up. The Government, of course, woull hold the new lands aa security until tho new owners were able to pay off the capital, but Mr. Bigland suggests that at least for four years no interest should be paid on the moneys by the new settlers. Thus, instead' of tying up in a napkin the bonds representing such an enormous sum, they would be pressed immediately into use at a time when most needed, and the money used not once but possibly many times. Thus, in the end, the Government, besides having adopted a thoroughly sound business proposition, would be reaping the benefits of an extended Empire, and the British nation would be extending its activity and power in many new portions of the world.