OVERSEA INTEREST PAYMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1933, Page 6

OVERSEA INTEREST PAYMENTS.

There is a good deal to be said for the contention of the London Financial News that negotiations in regard to oversea interest due from the Dominion should not be handled piecemeal. Reports have been issued from time to time of action being taken by local authorities and by the Government for special representation in London in regard to interest due. The latest of these is the proposed visit of the chairman of the Auckland Transport Board (Mr. J. A. C. Allum). This has, prompted the suggestion by the Financial News that discussions such as Mr. Allum will undertake should be broadened to include representatives of the New Zealand Government and other Dominion bodies that have oversea interest and loan commitments to meet. It goes without saying that the action, of any authority in New Zealand will affect for good or evil the general credit of the Dominion. Moreover, it is highly probable that the same investors may have been lenders to the Government and to other New Zealand authorities, and unnecessary duplication of negotiations would be avoided by general rather than individual appeals for consideration. Speaking generally, the quest of all borrowers concerned is for as much relief from the burden of interest as they can obtain. It goes without saying that whether relief is obtainable or not, the Dominion will keep its word and will meet its liabilities so long as it is able to do so. Relief can only be obtained by consent of the investors who lent the money. The class of investor which prefers such investments as public loans has not shown itself unpatriotic where loans raised by the Government of Great Britain, have been concerned. They accepted conversion at a lower rate of interest because they were convinced that the country s recovery needed their assistance. If New Zealand can convince them that her need is as great, and that recovery of the Dominion will mean benefit for the whole Empire, she may receive similarly patriotic treatment. Efforts to bring about that result are more likely to be successful if they are made by the Dominion collectively rather than by individual borrowers.