BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 June 1942, Page 2

BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS. WELLINGTON, June 19. Addressing shareholders at the annual meeting, to-day, Mr. A. T. Donnelly, Chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, referred at length to the war economies. . . There was, he said, a widening inflationary gap between demand and supply, and the largest spending power in our history is battering at the shrinking supply of goods. He described inflation as the most cruel and least scientific way of taxing, because it pressed hardest on the poorer members of the community, and made the worker’s wages wither in his hands. The other choice was the hard way of economy and sacrifice, admitting and cheerfully accepting the unpalatable fact that the tide of comfort and prosperity has gone as long as the war may last. ‘‘We had the means, if we had the will, to divert our money, as we had diverted our men, from peace to war. We could best' pay by lending as much as possible to the State, through savings bonds and Avar loans. There must be other loans, which must succeed as did the Liberty Loan. All should forgo spending for their own ends and pleasures, and set aside some part of the income. Some complained that the sacrifice was not equal, as between citizens of classes or trades, but there never could be equality of sacrifice in war. There was not even among fighting men, for one man might die and another live. Those in authority could only do the best to spread the burden as fairly as possible. We could only atone for some unfairness and injustice when peace had come. We stake in this contest the present and future reward and price of capital, of labour, of industry and all human work and effort, and every right and principle, and every man and woman.” The Chairman said the terms of Mr. Kelleher and Mr. Williams, Government appointees, had expired, but for health reasons, they had not been reappointed, and their successors were not yet named.