FACING THE SUN.

Wairarapa Age, 14 March 1933, Page 4

FACING THE SUN.

OPTIMISM GROWING.

AS CONVERSION PROCEEDS. (Contributed.) The steady inflow of letters into the Treasury from bondholders agreeing to convert their holdings in Government stocks to the new 4 per cent, issue, would seem to indicate a feeling of optimism concerning the future. The conversion movement is one of the boldest steps in financial matters which, has been taken for some time, and no doubt it was for a lead of this kind that the people have been waiting. One letter in particular is worth quoting. There have been many expressing a similar sentiment, often breezier in tone, but this one stands out by reason of the clear, happy note in strikes. The writer said:—“l feel that it costs no more to be an optimist than a pessimist and if we turn our faces to the sun, the shadows will fall behind us."

It is a fact that in business circles in the Dominion, since the launching of the conversion plan, the note of pessimism which held sway for so long has almost vanished. Even if an occasional hopeless voice is still heard, we must remember that pessimists cannot all be converted into optimists at short notice. This optimistic outlook will do more than anything else to dispel the depression, if only by the fact that it is impelling bondholders almost unanimously to convert their holdings cheerfully and so provide a new outlook and a new road to prosperity. Prosperity smiles on all. It is only the cheerful fellow who connects with the smile and feels its happy influence. The cheerful holder of Government bonds ie the best asset New Zealand has to-day. After all, the sun is still shining, Nature is still bountiful. Alt is only in the world of finance afld trade that things have been askew. Human affaire will go wrong on a gigantic scale, as in the present depression, but they can usually be righted in time, by strong courageous action on the .part of everyWithout the c" pi tai moneys furnished by the bondholders there would have been no national development. They played their part nobly as investors when money was needed, and to-day they are responding just as nobly to the appeal to forego some of the benefits of their investments in order to maintain what their money has helped to build. Undoubtedly the spirit which is inspiring this aeiion is ’°' e - ° f t v eir COUDtr y To make atton n! ""i 0 - , '. he< ' rfull y i* a eontinuG N- and optimism, and n ? Zealanders will take the advice to turn their faces to the sun, the anVthc Te - y - n ’ USt fa " bchind tiu-'n, and the Dominion will stand where she Should stand, in the sunlight