UNECONOMIC TO HOARD

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 42, 19 February 1931, Page 13

UNECONOMIC TO HOARD

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Your correspondent, "Practical Patriot," writing in your Wednesday's issue under the heading "Limited Spending," strikes a note which is well worth 'the consideration of your readers. At a time like the present it is essential that every person having the wherewithal to spend should do so. The following figures, from official sources, make it- quite clear that,. although wool and produce prices are down, our national assets ate decidedly up. Financial position of New Zealand as at 31st December, 1929: — ■ & (1) Private wealth 754,500,000 (2) Government wealth .. 244,500,000 (8) Local bodies' wealth. 73,000,000 Total 1,072,000,000 Less debt domiciled In New Zealand ..: 154,000,000 Net national wealth. £918,000,000 The people of New Zealand have the following cash in the banks, including the Post Office :— 1925. 1930. £ &' Trading banks. 53,000,000 57,000,000 Post Office Savings Banks . 47,000,000 49,500,000 Trustee Savings Bank ' 6,000,000 9,000,000 £106,000,000 116,000,000 The above figures suggest that our so-called "depression" is to a great extent imaginary. The scared and nervous condition into which New Zealand has been thrown has resulted in ticd-up capital, foolish retrenchments, instead of rationing of work. Business and industry are being paralysed through purely psychological reaction to the croaking of non-constrifttive pessimists. Let us have a little optimism for a change! In the cabled news dated London, 21st January, Mr. Reginald M'Kenna, president of the Midland Bank, stressed the necessity for spending, maintaining that failure to use money, and the consequence of excessive saving, was the real cause of so-called . "depression." The number of unemployed in this country is negligible, compared with the large proportion of men and women who have earned and are still earning good wages and are still in constant work. It is "suicide" for people who have or who are earning good money to "button up" at a time like the present. If we are to survive, and avoid a panic, we must of necessity spend in the usual way, otherwise there is a danger of an earthquake in a different form, wherein money becomes valueless, due solely, to its being hoarded or withdrawn from circulation. It is uneconomic to hoard money. By so doing we are reducing the output and consumption of our employers' goods and produce, and we must ultimately pay the penalty of the resultant ronction in an indirect way. "Let us save a little, by ail means, but spend a lot! Keep .the wheels of industry and commerce revolving, and so keep our jobs."—l am, etc., T. O. TBEMAYNB. Wollington, 18th February.