RESERVE BANK

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19750, 17 March 1934, Page 22

RESERVE BANK

A SELF-CONTAINED INSTITUTION OBJECT OF GOVERNOR By Telegraph—Press Association AUCKLAND. March 16. "I am very anxious to be adopted as a New Zealander and to do all I can for New Zealand,” said Mr Leslie Lefeaux, who arrived at Auckland yesterday by the Rangitane from England to take up the post of governor of the Reserve Bank ef New Zealand. Mr Lefeaux has been connected with the Bank of England for the last 30 years, and lately held the special post of assistant to the governor of that institution. In an interview Mr Lefeaux emphasised his determination to make the new Reserve Bank a New Zealand bank. "For that reason.” he said, “I have travelled out to New Zealand alone, without even a secretary or a technical assistant. Please dispel any suggestion that I have come out here to start a branch of the Bank of England. "If it is possible, I think the Reserve Bank should commence from the very beginnig as a self-con-tained New Zealand institution. I am most anxious that there should be no idea that something is being imposed on New Zealand from abroad. Nothing is farther from the minds of those responsible for the project than that. I hope for that reason you will always regard it as entirely a New Zealand creation, to be encouraged, admonished, or critisised as you will or as occasion demands, but I do not want you to regard the bank as a sort of foreign interloper. Benefit to New Zealand. “As far as I am concerned,” continued Mr Lefeaux, “in carrying out whatever monetary policy may be land down by the State, I will always make it my utmost endeavour to direct the affairs of the bank for the benefit of the people of New Zealand as a whole. The very last thing I want it to be regarded as is a foreign invader or the instrument of one section of the community. “I have completely severed all connection with the Bank of England,” said Mr Lefeaux, “Naturally the Bank of England will be the agent for the Reserve Bank in England, and a very useful agent, too. As London is the financial centre with which you are most intimately connected, it is necessary to have the very best advice you can get there.” Mr Lefeaux expressed his conviction that the new bank would prove to be of benefit to New Zealand Itself. It should also help to make a useful link with the rest of the Empire. Finally, it would enable New Zealand to keep in touch with the rest of the world with a view to ensuring stability of prices and of conditions generally, Mr Lefeaux was met on board by Mr A. D. Park, Secretary to the Treasury. A private dinner party in honour of the new governor was given by the Treasury to-night Mr Lefeaux will leave for Wellington to-morrow. His wife and daughter are expected to come to New Zealand in about six months.