PATRIOTISM AND FINANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15251, 14 March 1913, Page 6

PATRIOTISM AND FINANCE.

In an interview published, in tms morning's Herald, Mr. A. M. Myers confuses the duty of the patriot with the.business of the politician. Discussing the Prime Minister's comparison of the cost of recent loans, Mr. Myers says: " Apparently > the Prime Minister is endeavouring to make political capital by comparing the flotation of recent New Zealand loans. Personally I '.' have always considered that matters of finance should, like matters of defence, be kept clear of party politics altogether." There is here a reflection on the Prime Minister's patriotism which wilt not bear a moment's investigation. The truth which Mr. Myers hints at, but does not even naif state,, is that the politician who makes party, capital at the expense of the credit of his country is no patriot, however, good a politician he. may be. This is quite different from the assumption that matters of finance should be kept clear of party politics, What has Mr. Massey done? . He went to Christchurch for the express purpose of making, as Mr. Myers puts it, political capital:" He compared the financial operations of the present Government with the financial operations of the Government of which Mr. Myers was a member; the result was not to lower, but to raise the credit of the country, since the successful financiers are in power and are likely to remain, there till long after the comparison is forgotten. The political., capital made by Mr. Massey at Christchurch was not, as Mr. .Myers would suggest, at the expense of the country but at the expense, of his predecessors.