The Editor, Sir:

The Bible says that the borrower is the slave of the lender, but this is not always true, and I don't think the Bible is saying that it is always true because borrowing, sometimes called credit when used for investment, can be an engine of economic growth and prosperity of the borrower.

However, housing and furniture are really consumption items and so there should be control of the deposits, or the borrower will most certainly become the slave of the lender if deposits either do not exist or are too low, the borrower will either soon lose his house and furniture because of inability to meet payment obligations; or in most cases, the average borrower will only be working to pay the lender and can save little or nothing and so becomes the slave of the lender, the slave master thus widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

Shakespeare said, "Consuming means soon prey upon themselves" and so it is no surprise that financial institutions that lend without due consideration to ability to repay, focusing on maximising profit with blinkers, often end with the rest of the economy imploding.

Having said this, acquiring properties and furniture without effective demand, that is, demand backed by money substantially from the borrower's savings or income, creates artificial demand that drives up prices out of the reach of the average wage earner in this country or everywhere else for that matter; thus reducing or even eliminating supply of houses in particular for the average person.

Let us in all the circumstances fix minimum deposits to mitigate the problem because a market without some amount of regulations has been shown to be courting disaster like a society without rules courts anarchy.

I am, etc.,

OWEN S. CROSBIE

3 Hotel Street

Mandeville

Manchester