Appeal To Businessmen To Support State Loan

Press, Volume C, Issue 29434, 9 February 1961, Page 14

Appeal To Businessmen To Support State Loan

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Feb. 8. "I appeal to the businessmen of this country, in considering contributions to the current Government loan which opened on February 1, to consider the following points,” said Mr J. Roy Smith, president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand, in a statement this evening. “The resources requisite for essential capital expenditure by the Government can be found from two sources only —taxation revenue on one hand or borrowing on the other. If Government loans are inadequately supported the additional weight must fall on the taxation purse. “Overseas borrowing entails the finding of overseas interest and repayment in the future, and while it is justifiable for emergency requirements and for projects which increase our overseas revenues, sound policies dictate that a substantial proportion of our requirements be found locally. "To rely wholly on the transference of funds from Government departments and large lending institutions to a Government loan does not relieve the private investor of his responsibility. What is required is a generous response

from the general community, inclusive of the business people—a large accumulation of the smaller contributions.

“May I ask the directors of public companies and the proprietors of private companies throughout New Zealand to look carefully at their resources for investment, and may I suggest to them that the investment of a proportion of the cash reserves which every sound company has should be in the present New Zealand Government loan flotation.

“Not only because it is helping the country on which these very businesses depend for their prosperity, but because it is a good investment—secure as to capital, fixed as to repayment, and earning a currently good rate of interest—this gilt-edged security appeals for investment of that proportion of cash reserves properly built into a sound investment budget for commercial enterprises large and small.”