RAISING WAR LOANS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 169, 29 April 1943, Page 3

RAISING WAR LOANS.

PROBLEM FOR AUSTRALIA.

SUGGESTION O FA LOTTERY.

(Special Australian Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) SYDNEY, April 28.

“Australians will be called on to subscribe to many more loans before this wap ends.’ This forthright de claration by the Prime Minister (Mr J. Curtin) has ai’oused wide discus'sion on the methods to be adopted in filling future Liberty Loans necessary to finance Australia’s war effort.

Although over-subscribed by an unprecedented last minute rush, the recent £100,000,000 third Liberty Loan lagged badly until its closing stages. For some weeks it was feared that, the loan would not be filled. Compulsory loans are commonly suggested as a solution of the problem, w’hich will grow as each successive subscription is sought.

The political correspondent of the "Melbourne Herald” says: "There will be little chance of filling future loans of £100,000,000 or more unless:. the compulsory system of post-war credits in operation in Britain and Canada is introduced. Australia’s future war loans cannot be smaller unless the Government intends to rely more upon the issue of bank credit, which is expected to reach at, least £200,000,000 in the present financial year. “Further large contributions in taxation plus, compulsory loans from incomes below £SOO must be made. It has been a disappointing feature of the war loans that only a very small' proportion of the lower income groups had made any perceptible contribution to war costs.” Small Income Earners.

The “Sydney Sun” also emphasises in a. leading article that future war loans must be subscribed to by the small income earner. The paper suggests education in the value of investment rather than high-toned appeals to patriotism as the most satisfactory method of inducing subscriptions to loans. It also advocates the adoption of the Canadian system by which subscribers to war loans are issued with badges, proclaiming their good citizenship.

A more novel suggestion which has aroused both enthusiasm and opposition is war loan lotteries, with prizes ranging from £SOOO to £50,000. Broadly, the proposal is that the war loan lottery should appeal to people to invest £lO, which they would lend interest free to the Government. But the Government would make available in prize money what it would otherwise have paid in interest, thus a £10,000,000 lottery of 1,000,000 subscribers would offer about £300,000 in prizes. Advocates of the scheme, which has some political support, urge that many people would prefer the opportunity of winning huge prizes to the small ’amount of interest they would receive on £lO. Subscribers to the lottery would not risk their principal. When the loan expired they would get the money back. Those who had moral objection to such lotteries could subscribe to war loans in the usual way.

It is. held that such a war loan, lortery would interest many of the 3,000,000 people who earn 80 per cent, of the wages in Australia, but who have subscribed less than 5 per cent, of the war loan totals. The main objection to the lottery is on moral grounds, but the view of many Australians is reflected in a statement by the veteran politician Mr W. M. Hughes): “However much we may deplore the tendency of the Australian people to worship at the shrine of chance, it seems inherent in the community, and never was the god l of chance invoked for a better purpose. This money is not wanted for any immoral or undesirable purpose, but for the safety of the country.”