Victory Loan : A Final Call

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23013, 3 October 1944, Page 4

Victory Loan : A Final Call

TO-MORROW, the Victory Loan closes. In the past few days the position of South Canterbury on the Dominion list has improved, but it is still a long way from the top and it will require a spectacular response in the closing hours of the loan if the South Canterbury district is to reach its quota, as one province has already done and others are almost certain to do. Yet the call of the Victory Loan is so clear that it should not remain unanswered. The money is required for war purposes, for payment to the fighting men and to their kindred. It is needed to pay for equipment which has already saved New Zealand lives in action. That point was emphasised by the Minister of Rehabilitation in his address last Sunday evening. While the money is wanted primarily for war purposes, the drawing off of this surplus spending power is an economic corrective, a curb on inflation which already threatens the country. It is not easy to'convince people of the deadly peril of inflation; the tragedy is that they often do not understand the evil until too late. Decline in the purchasing power of money inflicts wage and income cuts in a most brutal form, and unless New Zealand makes a resolute effort now to hold inflation in check the victims most likely to be struck are those who are at present fighting the Dominion’s battles overseas. It will be a poor return for their service if they are deprived of the fruits of victory by the selfishness of persons who have been privileged to go through the greatest war in history without ever being under fire. Public duly towards the Victory Loan is clear, lhe answer of the people should be as fullhearted and unquestioning as a soldier’s obedience to an order in the field.