REMEMBER THE DAYS?
VOU will remember the days when the Public Debt amounted to 1 £256.369,989. That was on April 1, 1936. On March 31, 1949, it had risen to £614.985.632. The increase in 13 years was, therefore, £358,615,643. Of this last-mentioned sum £203,874,694 was debt incurred for war expenses, leaving an increase due to other causes of £154,740,949. Think of it! In all the years of pioneering and develdpinent that went on in this Dominion from the beginning of settlement to 1936 the people of this Dominion incurred a public debt of £256,000,000. Railways were built, bridges were constructed, roads laid down, land opened up, the population increased tremendously during this time, and hospitals, schools, and other public, institutions were established at a debt charge of £256,000,000 plus, of course, that which was paid off. In the subsequent 13 years, apart from the war, the debt was increased by £154.000,000. Among the purchases financed out of this increase in the public debt was the various coal mines in the Buller district concerning which it has been stated authoritatively in a court of law that no buyer for these mines could be found today if the Government desired to sell them.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, 10 November 1949, Page 4
Word Count
201REMEMBER THE DAYS? Wanganui Chronicle, 10 November 1949, Page 4
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