PAYING THE BILE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 30 April 1945, Page 4

PAYING THE BILE

“WHAT do we want with a war loan now that victory in Europe is at hand and the Japanese are well on the way towards being trounced?” That may be the question uppermost in the minds of many Nelsonians as they are asked to subscribe to the current war loan of £25,000,000, of which this district’s share is £523,000, War expenditure does not end when war ends. It should be tapered off as much as possible as soon as possible, but pay and allowances, maintenance, transport and various other costs go on until demobilisation. Even then part of the money has to be devoted to rehabilitation. Moreover, as Mr Kilpatrick pointed out

on Friday in his address to representatives of the Nelson war loan committees, many of the accounts for equipment rushed out to us in the days of deep crisis are now being rendered. It is mercifully true that the wastage of human life will stop when the guns cease to bark, yet, on the financial front, we cannot escape the fact that victory has to be paid for. Once again the people are being urged to lend their money at a rate of interest which will make the investment as attractive as any offering to-day. The need for bridging the inflationary gap by tying surplus money up in loans is perhaps more necessary than, it has ever been before in New Zealand during this war. By lending we are helping to preserve the value of our own pound notes. All the facilities for subscription which were open Ipst year are again available. Sub-district quotas have been allotted and it is hoped to make the campaign shorter and sharper than it was last year, with the peak of investment coming much earlier. Very soon residents of town and country will be sounded about what they can do towards filling their local quotas, so, with a full sense of the need for the loan, they should be thinking the matter over. Indeed, they need not wait for the invitation, because any trading bank or Post Office will cheerfully accept subscriptions on which interest accrues from the day they are made.