A MILLION A MONTH.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 May 1928, Page 7

A MILLION A MONTH.

PUBLIC DEBT INCREASING. MR POLSON HIT'S OUT VIGOROUSLY HAMILTON, Last Night. Mr. W. J. Poison* Dominion president of the Tamers’ Union, -vigorously attacked the Government borrowing policy when addressing the Provincial Tamers' Conference this afternoon. Mr. Poison said that during the period since the war wo had been ineredsing the national debt —that is the ■public debt—at a'rate of nearly a million a month. The interest rate was alsb' increasing. ; The gross national debt on March 31, 1921, was £206,324,000. The amount borrowed since was £44,680,000 bringing fhe debt to £245,850,000. in 1927. ■ Mr. Poison also detailed the local body'debt which less the amount borrowed by local bodies from the Government in 1927 had reached the extraor•dinary total of £64,000,000. It is quite obvious that the renewals of these loans, ho said, must mean increased rates of interest in spite of the recently made boast about the success of the last New Zealand loan. This loan Mr. Poison described as “a fuss «bout 4d ; ’ because the nett yield to ani in,vector was £4 19s 8d whereas in the•ease of the Commonwealth’s last loan'more recently floated than New .Zealand V the nett, yield to investors was £5, a difference of 4d. Banking authorities showed in the last few years that all issues participated in the general improvement, New Zealand among them. Means Increased Interest, “In the next four years the Government is maturing £87,475,000 worth of loans which will have to bo renewed by means of increased interest charges. Renewals alone in the next four years will cost over £400,000. In addition new loans estimated by the Government moan another million interest in tlio next five years. “In a speech in reply to me the Hon. Mr. Stewart admitted that imports must pay for exports and should show :a sufficient surplus to pay also for oversea loans This is just my point. Now he claims credit for import of capital without debit for borrowing.

“Extraordinary Bookkeeping.” “This is most extraordinary bookkeeping for a Minister of Finance He forgets that he borrowed 12s 6d worth and must pay back £1 and suggests he borrowed £1 and need only pay back 12s 6d.

i “Taking these figures into account we find that the borrowing rate of the -country has enormously increased since the war.

“In the reply of Mr. James on behalf ■of the Government to my Mastcrton speech it is stated I ignored the fact that import values are loaded with 10 j>er cent, loading which is intended to covgr in part cost of transport, freight insurance, etc. “Mr. James is apparently under the impression that we got our transport •done for nothing. To eliminate it would falsify the figures, and as a fact 10 per cent, is not nearly enough to cover the charges. “In the 1924-25 Year Book the Government Statistician gives the estimated balance-sheet of debits and credits. New Zealand estimates freight, insurance and exchange at 20 per cent, of imports. The aggregate of imports from 1921 to 1927 was £317,000,000. This gives £28,817,000 as the added 'amount for freight over the period of the basis adopted.by the Government.

"If this trade balance statement is correct then a sum of £29,000,000 must be added to imports to get the balance of freight charges for the period. This would make my figures all the more formidable, i ■

'' "It would be interesting to know why. those statements from the Year Book wore dropped after two years."