A NATIONAL MATTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1921, Page 5

A NATIONAL MATTER.

SUGGESTED AGRICULTURAL BANK. IMMEDIATE ACTION URGED. In furtherance of his advocacy of an agricultural bank, Mr. W. Stuart Wilson remarked to a Dominion reporter that if New Zealand Parliamentarians allowed the opportunity of adopting the proposal to pass, they should be brought strictly to account for their neglect of the true interests of the Dominion. Mr. Wilson went on to urge that th© scheme should be made a national effort, and to this end not only producers, but all business firms -directly interested, should be compelled by law to contribute towards the financing of the venture. The whole country’s welfare and progress depended upon the establishment of an agricultural banking system. The people of New Zealand should insist that the Parliament now in session should take immediate action in connection with the establishment oi an institution that would finance farmers, and at the same time assist in fighting organisations which had immense funds at their disposal for me purpose of trafficking in New Zealand’s produce. He was firmly convinced that there would be no money available for housing, ro&ding, public works, and railway construction until an agricultural bank was established. The success achieved by the agrarian banking system in Denmark was pointed to by Mr. Wilson aa an illustration of what could be acI complished. [ Referring to the necessity for a forward move in connection with the marketing of the Dominion’s goods, Mr. Wilson said that to all intents and purposes the High Commissioner’s office in London had no money with which to advertise New Zealand’s produce. When one took into consideration the fact that business firms would give a London daily newspaper £lOOO for the outer page of one issue, the amount voted to the High Commissioner for advertising purposes for the whole of New Zealand was farcical. Other countries, notably Canada, had generously footed the bill in this respect, with wonderful results.