OVERSEAS SECURITIES.

Evening Star, Issue 23553, 17 April 1940, Page 12

OVERSEAS SECURITIES.

TO THE EDITOR, gir,—By. a piece of legislation issued overnight the Government has deprived the people of the right to buy or to dispose of scrip or bonds registered outside this Dominion..: That actually means that unless some modification is made thousands of British , men and women,. whose : one crime Is the possession of assets, face ruin. This latest blow has not even the excuse of emergency. The question of funds does, not enter into it because dealing in overseas securities has been limited to holders within' New Zealand. It is a most serious blow to those upon , whom it has fallen, but it does not stop at that. If it goes unchallenged it may mean worse things , to come. For that reason it must be fought to the last ditch by those whose belief in decency and Justice is something more than empty parrot prattle. Those who own assets outside this place may be a minority within a minority, but they have a right to claim the protection and the decency that the Empire has made itself responsible for. To deprive a section of a British people of the free use of honestly-earned funds, to reduce men and women to starvation, .is to place them in the position of a beaten alien race. This is a time when all

should stand together, when the fight should be one into which we enter gladly, feeling that we have much to hold and protect. It may be the worse for everyone if such is not the case. -—l.am, etc, 461.: April 16.