THE BANKING SYSTEM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 149, 26 June 1934, Page 6

THE BANKING SYSTEM.

A very large number of the New Zealand people will be both perplexed and amused at the amazing survey of the economic crisie by Sir Harold Beauchamp. The argument he put forward for the efficiency of the private banking system as a distributor of the nation's real wealth bordered on the ridiculous. Does ■Sir Harold Beauchamp consider the financial system the sole arbiter of the destiny of the people of this land of plenty or not? If not, whv use β-uoh platitudes ae only through hardships, etc., can we win back to prosperity ? The only logical conclusion one can arrive at, after reading this survey, is that everything in existence to-day is actually the property of the financial system, and that the State only exists on sufferance. Surely Sir Harold Beauchamp does not think that if the banking system was removed altogether from the community the rest of ■Uβ would perish. Personally, I think that ae it operates to-day it would be of the greatest benefit to New Zealand if it was removed and replaced by a system that properly accounted and reflected the industrial position of the country in both production and consumption. When, as almost everyone is aware, the financial system can create millions of money by a few strokes of the pen the problem of finance is only a small one. At present ifc is common knowledge that ithe banking system is not of the< State, but usurps the authority of the State' without accepting the responsibility for the individual welfare of every citizen of the State. If New Zealand is to prosper this anomaly must be removed. G. F. HOLIBAR.