TO REACH THE GOAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 5, 6 July 1943, Page 4

TO REACH THE GOAL

Already the people of New Zealand have contributed over £27,000.000 to the Third Liberty Loan. To reach the objective of £35,000.000 it will be necessary for them to contribute nearly £8,000,000 before the end of the present week. This will mean a concentrated effort on the part of everybody in the few remaining days, but in view of the great issues involved the task should be completed without difficulty it will be easy if everybody realises that the success of the loan, the most ambitious in the history of the country, is an individual responsibility. The Third Liberty Loan is a personal matter; it is not something that can be left to the other fe'low. The latest returns show a gratifying increase in the number of subscribers —there are already over 200,000, taking into account purchasers of bonds and contributors to national savings accounts

—but there is still room for improvement. This total is, after all, only one in eight of the total population. In most homes these days there is more than one wage- or salary-earner; in many there are several. It will not be good enough if the responsibility for contributing to the loan is left to the head oi the house. Everybody who is

in receipt of a wage or salary should play a part—and a part that approximates closely to the amount that can be spared after everyday living expenses have been met.

Better still, there must be a willingness to go without some of the everyday comforts of life in order to make the maximum contribution. It is not enough to make a small investment and rest content at that. What is needed to ensure the success of the loan is a readiness on the part of all to make the maximum possible contribution, even at the cost of some sacrifl 'C Only then will the people of New Zealand be able to say that they have done their full duty to their country and to the men who are bearing the major burden of the present struggle on land, at sea, and in the air. Encouraging as.the increase in the number of individual subscribers is, it is clear that there are still many who have so far made no contribution Their duty during the next few days is plain. Last night the Minister of Finance (Mr. Nash) cited the case of Canada's last loan as an example of acceptance of individual responsibility. If New Zealand could beat Canada, he said, it could beat the world. Thus the home front has a great opportunity of doing what the fighting front has done so often in the present war —put New Zealand on the map. There is an added incentive for a maximum effort during the next few days. Mr. Nash has indicated that U the loan.is over subscribed the amount in excess of £35.000,000 will probably be devoted to reducing the war debt which this country owes to Great Britain. In this way New Zealand will be able to relieve in part the great 'financial burden which Britain is carrying and will at the same time simplify her own post-war financial problems.