LONGEST LINER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 127, 29 May 1913, Page 8

LONGEST LINER.

SECRET OF THE XffiW. CTOTARDER. BOATS FOB 4.250 PEOPI«E. The Cunaxd Company have at last disclosed the length of their new ship, the Aqurtania, recently launched on the Clyde. She is 001 feet long, or 21ft. more than the new Hamburg-American imperator. which makes her trial trip this month. She will also stand 33fthigber in the water, bnt her tonnage is 3,000 below that of the Imperator. The ihree largest liners in the world are-.— Length. Breadth. Depth. Tons. Ft. in. Ft. i.ruitaoia 901 &7 ■ 92i 47,000 Imperator " SSO •'« rti SO.OOO Olympic .. 532 5- 59 45.324 The Aqmtania win have a speed of 23 knots and accommodation for 3550 pastpusers and a crew of 1.000. and boats for aN. She will be a ship within a ship, and in addition to a highly-developed pun of water-tight bulkheads, will be Stted with water-tight decks. HOW NATIONS BORROW. I-anre Government loans are generally pavaNe in bonds to bearer. The principal reason for this is the difficulty of keeping in toach with the people who lend. From-a book-keeping point of view alone, it would be difficult to keep re.nrds of all the lenders' names. When "ihp underwriting of the loan is complete —i hat is. when a number or wealthy jinn? and syndicates have agreed to jTiiarantee amongst them the whole ot thp Joan to -he issued —the prospectus is put before the public by advertisement. The underwriters generally receive a commission, varyrnir according to the risk. Thus a speculative issne would requirp perhaps a. commission of 3 or 5 per cent on the amount underwritten,; whiir a very safe loan, might be underwritten at J or 1 per cent.

When The loan is taken by the public at once, the underwriters make a iat profit quietly. But it often happens that the public absorb the stock slowly from the underwriter*, and if the latter have to find the loan money themselves it may necessitate the sale of other securities, or may even make it profitable for them to sell the bonds below the issue price, thn? losing some of tlieir commission. Most large foreign loans are secured on special assets, such a-; the revenne or c-'.i-toms of a country. In nrany case? -pedal Government monopolies, such as tobacco and salt, are mortgaged. When tiie money ie wanted to pay the interest on the loan it is collected and paid into cfTtain sLipniat-ed banks, and the holders of the bonds cut off from their securities >!ips of paper >-.alled coupons, which are paid into these speeisl banks, and the latter pay the-coupons out of the moneys they hose received. Very often the pnncipa! and interest of certain bonds are paid off at once by the operation ot drawings. This is generally arranged for by :» sinking fund calculated to extinguish both loan and interest in a certain i;limber of year*. To meet these claims a yearly sum is paid to the banks, and iTtiin bonds are drawn by lot and paid of yearly. Some of the big Government bonds can !>< bought and sold all orer the world i>y this system of making them payable to hearer. They have one great drawback. Jf they are stolen or !ost it is a very difficult matter to trace them and to recover the money.