INTEREST RATES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 255, 24 July 1936, Page 12

INTEREST RATES

Opposition Leader on Difficulties OVERSEAS DEBTS The view that any adjustment of interest rates on the Dominion’s loans ought to be done by the creditor and not the Dominion was expressed by the Leader of the Opposition, Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, in the House of Representatives last night. During the second reading debate on the Finance Bill Mr. Forbes referred to the recent statement made by the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, about the intention of the Government to seek an adjustment of interest rates on overseas loans and suggested that the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash, had had to come to Mr. Savage’s rescue and explain the real situation. “One difficulty the last Government had to face and did face up to was that in a period of falling revenue provision had to be made to meet our interest charges overseas.” said Mr. Forbes. “Before the depression it was estimated that our interest bill could be met by half of our wool cheque. But during the depression it took all the wool cheque and half of the butterfat cheque to meet it. But now we find, in these times of returning prosperity, that this question of ability to pay our overseas interest has been raised by the Prime Minister in his ‘bouncing the ball’ statement to the newspapers. The Prime Minister said that the rates we were paying to-day belonged to a bygone age.” When Mr. Forbes proceeded to read Mr. Savage’s statement in full, there were cries of “What is wrong with that?” from Government members. “I read that statement with a great deal of regret,” Mr. Forbes continued, “regret that such a question should be raised at the time the country has entered on years of returning prosperity. Our debts in Great Britain must be held by hundreds of iieople all over England, Scotland and Ireland. When times were good and interest rates were high everywhere, those people did not get any increase in the rates paid to them. Now we want to go to them aud say that they have to take less. I was glad to knojw that the Prime Minister stated later that he had been misunderstood. But one wants to be. careful with statements ot that sort.

“When the question is raised about any adjustment of interest, generally the creditor does the adjusting,” Mr. Forbes said. “I think it might be left to the creditors in this case, if they think that we are in such a position that we cannot meet the payments. However, the Minister of Finance had come to the rescue and pointed out that the Prime Minister did not mean exactly what he said. We hope now that the matter has passed and that we will not hear any more about it.” As British people it was our duty to pay up when we were’ in a position to do so, Mr. Forbes said. He was certain that that was the feeling of most of the people in the Dominion.

FINDING EMPLOYMENT National Reproductive Works DESIRE OF GOVERNMENT An assurance that the Government was doing everything in its power to alleviate' the unemployment situation was given by the Minister of PublicWorks, Hon. R. Semple, in reply to an urgent question by Mr. S. G. Smith (Opposition, New Plymouth) in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr. Smith asked the Minister whether he was yet in a position to indicate what national reproductive works he contemplated putting in hand for the purpose of absorbing the increased number of unemployed in the Taranaki province. He added that the large number of able-bodied and willing workers who were compelled, in the absence of full-time jobs, to remain on sustenance in Taranaki was causing great concern, especially among the workers themselves.

“Investigations are being made with the object of alleviating the position,” replied the Minister “The question of finding suitable employment for men, not only in Taranaki but throughout the Dominion, is a difficult one, and it is the intention of the Government that any work undertaken will have some merit and some value for the nation. It has been extremely difficult in the short time the Government has been in office to deal effectively with the unemployment problem, but all that can possibly be done to give relief throughout the Dominion will be done.”