INTERNATIONAL BANK

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27838, 10 December 1955, Page 10

INTERNATIONAL BANK

N.Z MEMBERSHIP URGED

BENEFITS OUTLINED BY SCIENTIST “The Press" Special Service ■’ PALMERSTON NORTH, December 9. - I “I hope to see the day when, ber latedly. New Zealand, which has so ,1 often led the world in progressive ! movements, abandons her unenviable ■, position as fellow abstainer with ■ 1 Communist Russia and lends support i to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development,” said Dr. ; C. P. McMeekan, director of Ruakura • Animal Research Station, in an address to members of the Manawatu Agriculture Club. New Zealand should lend support to the bank, not for what she might get out of it in easy dollar loans, but for the prestige of helping the world to better things. Dr. McMeekan, in tracing the history of the establishment of the bank, said he was not alone in believing it one of the most significant forward steps in modem times.

f The technique of the organisation - was to provide a connecting link be- ■ tween a private investor with capital to. lend and an under-developed nation . with the need to borrow. The idea 5 i behind the bank was an unusual blend of public and private finance at international level. : Referring to the place of the agri- ,! cultural specialists in the operations of > the bank, Dr. McMeekan said that . I most under-developed countries were i primary-producing ones and their i | ability to repay loans and raise their I living standard must depend largely I ‘on healthy agriculture. > Indirectly, therefore, every loan . made by the bank had its agricultural L angles. For instance, a hydro dam built , for power might also provide water for t irrigation, thereby changing the face . of farm production and opening up 1 ’ new markets. The economy of a pro- I . posed railway might depend on stepping up the efficiency of farm produc- . non. ’ The bank was performing on behalf ; of backward countries and their ; people and through them on behalf of ■ all who preferred the freedom of service which was vital to the future ' democratic way of life. ; “Holding these views, you will readily understand why I, belonging , to a non-member country, esteem it such an honour to have been asked to I join the bank as head of its agricul- ! rural department,” added Dr McMeekan. •