STATE AS BANKER

Evening Star, Issue 25522, 28 June 1945, Page 7

STATE AS BANKER

; DANGEROUS DELUSIONS To a large proportion of the traders and farmers of New Zealand it will he a startling and dangerous innovation for the State to become a " trading bank." The Bank of New Zealand has 220 branches throughout the Dominion, from Kaitaia and Kaikohe to the Bluff, and it serves all sections of the community. It serves them well, to the profit of its customers, its shareholders, and the State. Why change this happy state of affairs? What benefits will accrue, as a result of State ownership, to either the customers or the State? Officials of a Government Department would have the task of deciding who was to receive overdrafts, and how much. Could political discrimination he avoided in such transactions? A bank should be entirely free from both/ the actual effect and the fear of political interference. Tmagine what might happen to a State trading bank if Mr Frank Langstone were Minister of Finance? He has said: -

" The operation of the bank by Labour would bring about a great increase in the wealth of the people, in consumable goods and service, and in the greatest of all freedoms, freedom from debt."

Financial wizardry with a vengeance! Not a word about production! Wave a wand and you get wealth from nothing ! Mr Bernard Shaw has given the answer to such dangerous theories: "We hear of people living on credit and building houses on credit, which is utter nonsense; and of bankers creating credit and even creating money, which is dangerous nonsense, though it works well enough as long. as the goods are there and the banker's judgment sound. . A Finance Minister with these delusions is a standing threat or national calamity." Bv making the Bank of New Zealand a State Bank, the Government will loosen the barriers against inflation. What is more, they will have achieved a long stride toward making •New Zealand a Socialised State. Thinking people should stop, look, and listen —and then speak up for freedom.— Issued by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand.