2 JULY 1932, Page 32

AN INCONSISTENT POLICY.

A still more important point, however, is one which arises out of the present vague suggestions or threats of a scaling down of interest on the entire National Debt- It is this. Those who indulge in these suggestions offer as an excuse the -fact that the -fall in commodity prices has reduced the cost of living and that as a consequence the purchasing power of the dividend on the War Loan has been increased. And yet, in one and the same breath, those who put forward this suggestion are insisting— and quite rightly—upon the supreme necessity for measures being taken to raise the price of commodities to -at least the level of 1929. Therefore, it would seem that the suggestion is fust,of all to penalise a holder of Govern, meat stock by a scaling down of interest rates on the plea that commodity prices have fallen and then imme7 diately to take steps to raise the price of commodities once again.