STATE BANK OF ISSUE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1497, 24 April 1886, Page 2

STATE BANK OF ISSUE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— lt would appear that Minister#,, consider no utterance on the subj ct ton absurd to go down withf their au lienee, Mr Stout, at Invercargill, the oilier day, stuck up the Old Aunt Sally of “ a printing press and a bale of paper ” as a universal panacea, and then proceeded, greatly to his own satisfaction, and apparently to that of his hearers, to knock it over with a tew words of satire. What sane iban ever did propose that Government should constitute themselves bankers and give out to all who applied sheaves of State notes ? There is all tbs difference in the world between a Bank of Issue and a State Mercantile Bank. The latter is absolutely impracticable, whilst the former is one of the greatest boons to the industry of a country that can possibly be desired. The United States, India, and the River Plate, amongst many others, are countries with a State Issue. We all know the wonderful strides that the United States have taken since the civil war. India has been more prosperous since the' introduction of the system than any ten - years previous since coming under the British Crown. As to the River Plate, as an old resident, I can bear witness to the great part a State Issue has had in the leaps and bounds of prosperity - which has marked her career of late years. With late low prices her farmers would have boon ruined without it. As it is, we feel, to our cost, the . cheap system ot her finance, which enables her to glut the European markets with wool and frozen meat at prices which.defy competition. Instead of the farmers in the Plate being on the verge of ruin, as in this colony, they are yearly extending their operations, both in pasturage and tillage. But, then, they are not cursed with an " octopus, and all sorts and conditions of devilfish.”—! am, otc., J. L. Lbesmith.