WAR SAVINGS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24448, 6 November 1940, Page 9

WAR SAVINGS

SECURITY OF INVESTMENTS MR FRASER’S ASSURANCE DURATION OF REGULATIONS (Per United Press Association! WELLINGTON, Nov. 5. A further assurance that the Government would not take advantage of the exceptional powers invested in the Ministry by the war emergency regulations to further any of its purely party proposals, and also that the regulations would be repealed as soon as practicable after the war, was given by the Prim* Minister (Mr P. Fraser), in a reply to a communication from Mr Spender, president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, regarding a statement attributed to the Minister of Labour (Mr P. C. Webb) on the West Coast recently. In his letter Mr Spender drew particular attention to the reported reference to the end of the capitalist regime, and asked Mr Fraser whether Mr Webb’s views represented the official war policy of the Government. * Alleged Scare ” Methods In addition to the assurance given, Mr Fraser said that in his opinion the only really serious aspect of the whole matter was the attempt made in some quarters to work up a scare in regard to the security of investments in the war loans and savings scheme. It was imperative at this critical period that the financial and credit structure of the Dominion should not be impaired or its stability questioned. It was not only the administration of the Government that was involved: it was the good name and reputation of New Zealand in the fundamental matter of honouring all obligations when they fell due. No Government had ever been more meticulously rigorous in safeguarding the honour of New Zealand in this respect, and incidentally the savings of the people, than the Labour Government. Mr Webb’s Utterances “ 1 have already made it perfectly clear that I accept Mr Webb’s assurance that what appeared in the press, portion of which you quote, was a distorted account of his address,” Mr Fraser said. "Therefore, there is nothing more to be said by me on that particular subject. It may interest your members, however, to know that Mr Webb freely admits that—in common with the Archbishop of York, Mr Herbert Morrison, Mr C. R. Attlee. Mr Arthur Greenwood, Mr Ernest Bevin. and Dr H. Dalton—he stated in a West Coast address, and firmly believes that as a natural consequence of the war, in which all classes of the British Commonwealth are sharing the burden of sacrifice, it will be impossible for the democratic countries to relapse into the capitalism which enables a few to be enriched fabulously while millions are condemned to unemployment, destitution, and poverty. Happily New Zealand and New Zealanders have been spared anything of this tragic nature in the last few years. I am certain that no member of your chamber wishes the British Commonwealth to return to such social and economic conditions. “While I have no doubt that your statement in regard to the effect on the collection of funds for patriotic purposes of the publication of the alleged utterance by Mr Webb, was made in good faith,” Mr Fraser concluded, “ I refuse to believe that the people of Auckland who have given and are giving so generously to patriotic funds, as well as strenuously supporting New Zealand’s, war effort in every possible way, would even contemplate for a moment sacrificing the interests of. far less penalising, the fine men of the Expeditionary Force and their dependents because of any utterance of any public man.”