NEARLY FORTY MILLIONS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 164, 13 July 1943, Page 2

NEARLY FORTY MILLIONS

]">Y a happy chance the closing stages of the Third Victory Loan have coincided with the return on furlough of the first group of our fighting men. Having done its job of financing the" splendid Division whose heroism has added so much lustre to New Zealand's fame, the home front can welcome the returning men in the sure knowledge that it, too, has done, and will continue to do, its unspectacular share in the war-winning effort. In four weeks the Dominion has raised nearly forty millions, ten millions a week, for the prosecution of the war, a splendid performance for an already heavily taxed country with a population of a million and a half. The . Commonwealth of Australia subscribed a hundred millions in its last loan, it will raise another before the end of the year, but even then the average contribution of the Australian will be below that of this Dominion. An outstanding feature of the loan just closed is the number of investments, 419,763. Allowing for the fact that some have bought bonds, stock and national savings certificates, the figure, shows that the whole Dominion is thoroughly alive to the fact that everybody is in this war, and that everyone not on the fighting front must assist to the utmost with money and supplies. Never before has the response approached this, and the success of the loan is an assurance that whatever our future commitments may be they will be met, voluntarily and whole-heartedly, from the twin sources of taxation and loan. The loan asked for thirty-five out of the forty millions announced in the Budget as our minimum requirement, the remaining five millions being anticipated by over-the-counter sales or advance subscriptions to next year's loan. The total was over-subscribed be nearly "this amount, but according to Mr. Nash the balance may not be kept in hand. Instead it may be used to liquidate some of our commitments in Britain, so that later subscriptions will still be necessary. Mr. Nash, in his Budget, emphasised the increasing necessity for the financing of war loans from current savings, for the dual purpose of checking. inflation and of providing the' large sum needed. That New Zealanders generally accepted the challenge he then made is shown by the fact that the average subsci'iption dropped to a tenth of the size of the average in the first Victory Loan, while the number of contributors increased forty-fold.