THE TEMERITY OF IGNORANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1930, Page 8

THE TEMERITY OF IGNORANCE.

There is something about banks and banking that seems to have a fascination for politicians. Most people would like to find the kind of benevolent financial institution that the bank of the politician who is on the hunt for votes would seem to be. Whenever depression appears it is a stock argument of Socialist orators that the banks of the country ought in some mysterious fashion to make finance easy and so bring about an improvement in national circumstances. It is true that such financial theorists are usually careful not to descend to practical detail or to indicate in any definite fashion how the financial millennium they indiciate is to be brought about, but fulminations against “Capital” and the “Capitalistic” banks is excellent political “dope,” and from the frequency with which it is prescribed is evidently found of service to the politician. Sometimes an effort is made to show the banks how the errors of their ways may be corrected. It is not often this happens, and when it does the author of the new scheme generally finds that what he thought was irresistible logic proves to be but the temerity of ignorance, and sometimes, it may be hoped, makes him realise that banking may perhaps be a business requiring expert training and experience and is something more than simply trading with money, for the use of which it often pays nothing to depositors. Such an instance of the effort of the amateur to instruct the specialist has been seen in Parliament this week, when members were asked to support a private member’s Bill. The object of the Bill wae to improve the management of the Bank of New Zealand. The bank is the only one operating in the Dominion in which the State is a large shareholder, and the history of its earlier days is fairly well known. Whatever the difficulties of the past, : the bank’s present standing would be sufficient indication to most people that its management had not been wholly without wisdom. But the politician i sees otherwise and is convinced that ly i political restrictions or assistance tlie i management of a bank could be vastly I improved. Fortunately the House of i Representatives was wise enough to see the futility of mixing politics and banking. Though this will not prevent the Socialist from denouncing those responsible for this latest failure to control the hated “domination of capital,” the country will assess the accusations at their true worth and will be content to leave high questions of finance to those who are really qualified to handle them.