MONEY-LENDERS’ CHARGES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9788, 11 October 1917, Page 8

MONEY-LENDERS’ CHARGES

To the Editor "N.Z. Times." Sir,—The principle involved in charg-( dng high rates of interest by moneys lenders is clearly set out in the ex-* (pressed opinion of the highest author-* ity the world has ever known. The* degree of the evil ia also set out by» oom-parispn. The only time in which' the Man Christ Jesus was so enraged that He lifted His hand ahd struck) llks fellow man was when He took a scourge in His hand and lashed the) money-changers out of the temple. Tiei Scribes and; Pharieoes allowed the money-changers such social prestige; that they even got into the Temple to ply their nefarious trade. The same; Scribes and Pharisees wanted . the; woman talfeg in adultery to be 4 . to death, “Neither d;8 "V, condemn thee; /©^fiand sin no more." Niote how . this' author-* ity viewed the sin of the woman taken; in adultery, as :against, the sin of the. money-lender. The principle is , the* same to-day as it was when Christ; was on earth,, and .will remain the - ’spinel till the crack of doom. .This country is disgraced by the legal-* ised blood-sucking extortion which goes, on daily' from .the .North Cape to the Bluff, i The only difference between this (form of theft and burglary is that the one is legalised and the other is not. Let the Government rise to a sense of its duty and immediately place on the Statute Book a law that anyone, who. no matter what the pretext* charges interest at a higher rate than 10 per cent, per annum shall be liable to imprisonment _ without the option of* a fine. This will rid the country of* .the worst form of piracy that has even •visited our shores. —I am, etc.. ■ LOOK OUT.