FINANCING TUNNEL

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31224, 23 November 1966, Page 17

FINANCING TUNNEL

C. Mannings (Social Credit)

Knowing that you will see our comprehensive policy before the election, I will go straight to the best example of Social Credit financing —public works. Take the Lyttelton road tunnel financed by a Road Tunnel Authority Loan. This £3.25 million project will be paid for by 54 years of tolling

and the total of principal am interest repaid will be £11.21 million. Social Credit would pay £3.25 million once from the Reserve Bank and balance the book with one Dominion-wide asset, no tolling. The road tunnel Authority has created a burden on Canterbury and the South Island. As a pay-as-you-go party, we believe in paying once only for public works. The great expansion of borrowing going on at present will mean a crushing debt of interest later, which will have to be paid with hard-won overseas exchange. This hard borrowing means New Zealand is deemed creditworthy. If we have sufficient credit to borrow, then it has been conceded that we have enough credit to create money.

Surely we can follow the Rt. Hon. R. J. Seddon, who said in 1900: “I am looking forward to the time when we shall get rid of all this circumlocution by issuing State paper against the people’s production and thus obviate the payment of interest to the banks, and instead of going hat in hand as we do now to ask the banks to issue paper money to us, paper money which is issued against something which the people and not the banks have produced, we shall issue our own paper (or credit).” The saving of interest in British Colombia under Social Credit has enabled the Government to pay the first 75 dollars for every ratepayer. This would very soon help stabilise rates here. What other form of Government even begins to think of helping the man in the street. We now have the strength and the organisation to form a good government, so electors, it’s up to you. Social Credit’s the answer!