THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1917. WAR LOAN CERTIFICATES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17091, 24 August 1917, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1917. WAR LOAN CERTIFICATES.

While the success of the War Loan will depend most largely upon the measure of support that is given to the effort by the investors of considerable sums, it is most desirable that the provision of the sum .which is required by the Government should he a really national under- I taking. The loan is presented to the 1 public in a form which offers facilities for the investment of small sums of money. A person who is able to subscribe £100 may secure a Post Office bond, bearing interest at 5 per cent., payable half-yearly. If he has £500 to invest he may still put his money into Post Office bonds, but £500 is the limit of the investment that may be made in the loan in that form. For the person who has not £100 at his command the War Loan Certificates offer an attractive investment, returning £> per cent, on those of five years' currency and a shade over 5 per cent, on those of ten years' currency. The interest on this investment is payable when the certificates themselves mature. A single £1 certificate with, a currency of five years may be purchased for 16s, and a certificate with a currency of ten years may be purchased for 13s. Under this form of investment £100 will be returned after ten years for a payment of £65, and after five years for a payment of £80. j The War Loan Certificates represent a feature of the loan scheme in which even the humblest members of the community may participate. They proved a popular form of investment in the War Loan of last year, nearly a million and a-half of money having been subscribed through the purchase of these certificates, but they might readily be made to provide a much more liberal contribution to the War Loan of this year. There are, for example, over thirty millions of money lying to the credit of depositors in the savings banks of the dominion. The War Loan Certificates offer a larger return to the investor than is yielded by a deposit in the savings bank. True, the investor has to lie out of his interest until the certificate has matured,, but on the other hand the certificate is itself negotiable. When this is clearly understood, it should be possible to look for a large,sale of certificates to persons of small means. Moreover, the issue of these certificates might be greatly popularised by the formation of War Savings Associations, such as were established in the United Kingdom in thousands ; when the Imperial Government wisely adopted the course of appealing to the masses of the population for support for the war loans. The existence of these associations provides the means' whereby weekly subscriptions are received from the members towards the cost of securing what is called at Home a war savings certificate. The effect is directly to encourage thrift for the benefit of th& nation as well as of the individual. There is not a warehouse or a factory or a workshop in the dominion in which a War Savings Association might not be advantageously organised. There is not a society or a lodge or a union which might not have its association. By the mobilisation of the resources of the industrial section of the community, for application to the service of the 'country as a whole, an immense impetus could -,be given to the disposal of War ' Loan Certificates. While War Savings Associations established iii large factories might be the means of distributing hundreds of certificates among the members independently altogether of the certificates which the members might acquire by personal application at the Post Office, certificates in tens and twenties and fifties might be purchased on behalf of the membership of associations in smaller businesses. In the aggregate a highly substantial contribution to the War Loan would lie made. It is not an immaterial circumstance, either, that the effect of the formation of associations of this description would be to give to a large number of the workers in the community a direct interest in the loan and to give to the effort itself the unmistakable character of a truly national enterprise.