The Christchurch Star. SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1932. BRITAIN’S CONFIDENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 495, 2 July 1932, Page 8

The Christchurch Star.

SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1932. BRITAIN’S CONFIDENCE.

PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Squara CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. London Representatives < R. B. BRETT & SON NEW BRIDGE HOUSE, 30/34 NEW BRIDGE STREET LONDON. E.C.4.

'T'HERE IS NOTHING startling or unexpected about the scheme for the conversion of Britain’s £2,000,000,000 war loan, for the advantages of reducing what amounts to one-third of the total internal debt to a lower interest basis than 5 per cent have been so apparent, and the need for economy so urgent, that an opportunity for conversion has been discussed for the past eighteen months. It is perhaps fortunate that a move was not made twelve months ago, for the intei-vening financial crisis has to some extent cleared the air. The security of sterling has been restored, confidence in Britain’s budgetary stability has been enhanced, and the problem latterly lias been less to guard against the flight from the pound than to prevent or neutralise an embarrassing influx of funds from abroad. The proposed conversion, moreover, not only represents a net saving of £23,000,000 per annum, to Britain, but tends to remove an obstacle to the reduction of costs on all new borrowing in London—a point of special interest to New Zealand—because the existence of a 5 per cent war loan has always exercised an upward pull on securities. Then, again, the rentier class, in respect to this loan, have not made a sufficient contribution or sacrifice in the national interest at a time when enormous burdens have been placed on the taxpayers, and the realisation of this fact is evidently relied upon by the British Government in its appeal to the patriotism, and possibly also to the j self-interest, of the holders. THE WOMEN’S REST ROOM. THAT the women’s rest room in the Square is an accomplished fact it may justifiably be regarded with pride not only as the fulfilment of an ideal of efficient service to citizens, but also as an evidence of civic self-reliance. It may be said that the fight for its erection was a strenuous one, but the hardest struggle was not to get it built, but to get it built on what was not a city reserve. It required strong opposition to resist the determined effort made to seize the i central plot in the Square for the j rest room and shelter, but now that j this space has been cleared and the j frontage to the Square improved with a dignified building, the council is to be congratulated upon the result of the final choice. The whole depot has been designed to give the maximum service, but mothers, in particular, will appreciate the arrangements for their comfort and the fact that they can take their children to the creche by safe ways from the Square or from the quiet approach of Hereford Street. A TARIFF WEAPON. IyfOVE AND COUNTERMOVE in the Irish trouble are becoming decidedly interesting, and it is not surprising to hear that the British intention to impose duties on Irish imports has come as a bombshell to Ireland, which with a high export surplus is already feeling the acute crisis that has struck the farming industry everywhere. Dairying ednstitutes the chief farming industry of the Free State, and in 1929 the butter production was valued at £12,000,000. Horses exported in 1930 were valued at £2,123,342, and the total export value of cattle in the same year at £14,674,438, while sheep and lambs were valued at £1,350,972, and live pigs at £2,582,044. The most interesting phase of this tariff war is the fact that Ireland is being paid in her own coin, and it is probable that nothing could bring home more vividly to the people of Ireland the fact that their prosperity is bound lip with the prosperity of Britain than the retaliatory move which Mr de Valera’s repudiation of a just debt has precipitated.