ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1917. THE LIBERTY LOAN.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 198, 22 August 1917, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1917. THE LIBERTY LOAN.

Opinions fnay have differed as to the terms upon which the War Loan is being floated,,as to the wisdom or otherwise of issuing; the loan free of income-tax, and on other points. But differences there can be none as to the duty of every individual Eyho is able to do so to subscribe to the loan. Th© money is urgently needed. As to that'we have the solemn assurance 'of' the Finance Minister, and that assurance' we can accept with implicit confidence. Even Sir Joseph Ward's bitterest political enemies—-in the past, for he has surely none now —have never underrated his ability as a financier. To-day his reputation as a Finance Minister stands higher than ever. And this reputation is. based upon solid fact., . No one who knows anything of State finance as it has been conducted in the various Australian States since the outbreak of the war can deny that New Zealand's war finance has been on a far sounder basis than that, which has prevailed in the Commonwealth. There are those who contend that Sir Joseph . Ward is . taking an unnecessary .amount from the people in the way of taxation, but who can say that there may not occur such serious disturbances in the industrial and commercial world as may be responsible for a substantial diminution of revenue? It is better, in war times at least, ±o have too large than too small a surplus, and if Sir Joseph has erred at all it has been on the side of prudence. • With regard to the loan, it deserves to succeed, as we feel convinced it will succeed. The terms offered are exceedingly liberal. Behind it is the full security of the State, and accompanying each investment, outside the special £100 war bonds, . there is that highly attractive condition—"free of incometax." In the advertisements of the loan the point of national and individual responsibility is very properly emphasised. The men at the front have "proved themselves equal to the world's best and bravest soldiers." But man^-power alone cannot win the war. Man-power has to be supported by money. Without money the men cannot be trained and sent to the front, and clothed and fed and kept at the front. The whole of the intricate war machinery breaks down if the ' 'money oil" be not provided liberally. No.man can make a greater sacrifice than that of risking his life in battle, and it is a solemn duty and responsibility on those who cannot fight themselves to see to it that those who fight for them are adequately provided for in the way^of munitions and food, apart from all the terrible expense of training and transport. Once again , let us emphasise the one great point which every New Zealander should remember. If Great Britain and her Allies do not win this war, the British Empire is doomed to rum, not only as a whole but in each integral part. If there still remain any foolish people—outside a mental hospital—who hug to themselves the fond delusion that alter all this is a European war, and that we nations of the overseas are only concerned in the war from purely a racial and sentimental point ot view, let us assure them that they are laboring under a most grievous . misapprehension of the true facts of .he case Undoubtedly the failure ol the Allies to defeat the Central Powers would spelt not only commercial but political ruin to Australia and New Zealand. A victorious Germany, as indeed the pan-German military clique at Berlin has frequently and -openly admitted, would carry m its train the German annexation of the British Dominions m the Pacific. Germany would pay Her Avar expenses out of the forced revenue which she would extract from oversea annexed territories which for some years she would treat as the Spaniards treated their possessions in Southern and Central America, and as the_.utch treated the East Indies • sm,l^/ S. a S^°n^ c t0 be continually squeezed for the benefit of the nos- ■ .ior 8' 2'"' Wted *cc inst?£tions would disappear. The wealthy classes would be subjected tcT direct levies wh.ch would force them into TT/'T :e pauperdom- Th* wh°fe ot om primary products would be treated as "loot,", and, as for the Xnr^nt 8868 ' V^ y ™uld haW to accept aW subsistence wage of a uXnnv t h?gS <? S° a day-a* the unliapp-j Belgians have had to do— staivation and a. comp iance impressed with all the brutal force of the. victors' bayonets. T?W IS'> Wf rejDeat>' not only, for the [Empire's freedom and liberties, foils actual existence as an Empire that our men at the front are fighting that others will have to "o to repl^eE-hose who fall, but for on? cwn, for New Zealand's national existence as a free, self-geyer™ country, for the individual indepen" denee and existence, under reasonable conditions of living, of every New Zealand man and woman. The people of this country-must .be, and, we believe are, now under no illusion as to tlje real issues at stake in the var. They must and, we are convinced, avi 1, recognise and cheerfully Mioulder their responsibilities Not onlyisjt thebounden, the solemn patriotic and loyal duty, of every citizen who can do so, to subscribe to the Liberty Loan, but it is to his and her actual personal individual "^^ "«\. .^e Governmenthas made the conditions of assistance' as liberal as wssibic. 'J he ] oan "j s offered upon the most favorable, the most liberal terms, and it should be subscribed promptly and completely

Those who stay behind and live a life of comfort and ease owe it to the brave fellows at the front that the Government is placed in such a substantial financial position that there will be no falling-off in the practical value of the share the Dominion is loyally and honorably taking in the war. Economy should be practised in everyday life by everyone, and every penny that can be spared should be put into the loan. Let the loan be a complete and unqualified success. That will be the best and most practical way of displaying our loyalty to the Empire ' and our regard and respect for our own liberties.