HARD TO UNDERSTAND

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8834, 10 September 1914, Page 7

HARD TO UNDERSTAND

To the Editor "N.Z. Times." Sir,—lt is hard toi understand why' at this" stage of our. affairs °ur PWt lo f+ lions 'should bo expected to- peacefully repose 'with' the lambs. * We pan all appmiiiW the absence "of that contentious iihol which' goes by the noma or party fq\ euninent. when valuable timo if ottan fisted' in party rancour, oven, at a time whea. as Lord IJoteyts rap#Jf«>. W« are engaged "in a life and death struggle"; but to'ignore mattens yitally eoid immediately pressing "i,o the.peppwa Sveil'are 6h>uid not be perayittpd. It is difficult to understand the 'Premier.'" WEiii the supply'"df .wheat came before Parliament a lew lyV'fe PS° J 1 * deprecated any alarm being SPBW about its scarcity;' Jib telj; eure there was sufficient on hand for. present reqviromenfcs in fact, a.'tho". gh it was neeossarv to legislate to pxoaib-it its export, under certain cirox mbtances it may be desirable to allo'V some cixportaticn: but at a recant Hitting when -f r Buxton presented an estimate of stocks on hand the Premier asks, "U .that ■ not ioutting it too fine?" and afterwards informed the House that "the Government had bought a oonfcidtiable quantity of wheat© in Australia to be kept in store in casa of necessity-'' Why. tft? 6 .change of front? Js\„* Australia instead of her 6? Or why huy at all whoi there, ?s enough here _ already? I am uncter the ipipjessuHi tJiat. if the Government *to not pow ppptract io.- wheat to be delivered from the next haa-vest" and eufflpieht to carry u 6 over the next • tho.- people will -nave causai'tp reoae'piber Mr Massey and his but a* pleasant way. .' " ; Another thing hard <* understand, it wa take Mr Ailen'e figures, is the- nomoney panic setting ,in with public bedaes. Mr Massey's pwp octJity council givee'lis an exampl} of tb? <H4 W<ing that ''a prophet hath no hpne-ur in {us own country-." A recent Auckland paper says! teethe European trouble the Waitomata County Council decided thii morning to r-pp all works for'sis months, and alfp to discharge all the men with one exception in each riding." Now the only reason for this extraordinary procedure of a prosperous jand important public body must be the ,fear, of scarcity of money, in spite of (Ministerial 'assurances. What are we |to ' understand P 'One things we may be certain' of, viz., if the noTraqney-funk is allowed to'spread, we sha}l Ppon be i ready for the public, soup-kjtehen. Perhaps the most difficult of all others Ho comprehend is why Parliament gives •banking institutions privileges and conIcessions for which there is nothing given in return. J refer to the privilege of issuing bank-notes. I thmk that very few of the public understand the position, ana the sooner they do the better. Any person owning a M banknote on looking at it will read as foU lows:—"On demand we promise to pay to the bearer One Pound Sterling." Consequently he knows that so long ob he holds that piece of paper the bank issuing it owes him £l, thus it is evident that he is practically lending the bank .£l, Now, aa the bank-note circulation of New Zealand exceeds one and a half million, it is clear that the banks all the time owe the people a million and a half \n gold This is equivalent tp a, loan from the people ,to the banks. For this privilege of note issue there is levied on the banka a tax of 2 per cent, per annum. This amounts to £30,000; but that.million and a half is worth to the people of this country .£75,000 per annum, because that is wnat it would cost the Government to borrow it. Now the question arises, why should the banks get the loan of the ]>eople'B money at 2 per cent., and when they re-lend it to a part of the people get for it six, seven, or eight per cent. ? If they relent at 6 per cent, that which they pay .£30,000 for would return them .£75,000; but that would be too modest a profit for the banks. If the people lend the banksthrough the note issue—why not lend it to their own bank—a State Bank? Further. If the banks pay this tax money they find a way of getting it repaid with addition. There is a large sum in their keeping every day, viz., the credit balances on current account, which they use and pay nothing for, also they charge all customers IBs a year for booki keeping, which amounts to more than the tax; so really they get the privilege of the note issue free; they are continually in debt to the people a million and a half, which.costs them nothing. lis it any wonder they pay fat dividends? ! We. are a wonderful people for generjosity; we have for years, through the

tax on flour, paid -ti11!),570 per year in excess of all the wages paid in ail our flour mills; and tho cost of ths taxes on clothing arid apparel is -£335,495 more than all tfie wages paid in' all our clothing factories. And now wo see wo have been lending the, banks upwards of a million and a half ftW of charge. If tho evil days fifing with them tho bugbear of money scarcity to be found upon' qs, causing searching of hearts as well as our pockets, have wo not cause to expect that our leaders—our* great financiers who have had such a long experience in borrowing .soqres of millions—should rise to the occasion, and with the. enchanter’s wand of superior knowledge scare this evil away, not by further borrowing, but by formulating a scheme of self-reliance? Admitting that it is good to see our young men fired with the patriotism of offering themselves for tho safety of the Empire, I hold it is also true patriotism for every colonist at this critical j unoturo to demand from those in authority the reason why they cannot or will not take full control of the currency, and prosecute a vigorous policy of public WKirks,' eq thaif a distribution of that currency shall benefit the peeple, and assure onr material' progress. ■. VVitb thanks for space, I am, eto-.j INDEX.