LOAN FLOTATIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 173, 22 July 1914, Page 4

LOAN FLOTATIONS.

SOME PRIVATB QPS-RATioj^

OPPOSITIONISTS __J BOBBOWETG.

'By Tele e rap-.-r___nent_- T -^tt^

Vi ___IS-_o_r, Tuesday _ return which provoked much -«_< as to tiie relative superiority^£s___ _r Government, financial ob_f___. Bt tab.cd today ■borrowed in London dune thiT v„ * ended 'March 31st, other tha. tfM flotation. It showed that WS the _iin_ter of Finance Kj £1,223,000 all except _ _,0M W '* the rate ot 4 per cent. T_e price of ike ot the _40,000, ranging f-ro_ 99 to 10?. ■which was realised for a small oarerl" Tt £30.000. taken up on February _£_ L. Sir Joseph Ward (Leader of _«figj s.tion) deprecated the raising of loans o„ the London market other than thro™. the official channel, the Stock Extant On more thin one occasion he bad r-iven an undertaking that Xeiw Zealand would not put a loan on the Australian market with right of payment in London, so ato protect the men wiho took up our loan s at reasonable rates. He would not allow- competition to take place fcet-een the men who had undertaken.- sub.=cr;be to Xew Zealand loans except public! v by flotation in the ordinary -way. .Mr. A. M. Myers asked (how tie 'loan of £ 1,-53.000, subscribed privately, com . pared with the 4} million loan ot,J__ u . ary. If local bodies were going -to float loans under Government guaranteeit4l per cent it would not tend to produce a feeling of confidence on the part of those who loaned money more c.e»piv to the Government.

Mr. Russell emphasised tile de__._] e . ness of knowing for what .period- these moneys were borrowed. "__w_tely and surreptitiously," declared tihe member for •Avon, "no less a sum than £1,223,000 ■was borrowed during the year ended March 31. 1914. of which _te public kner absolutely no-thing till no.. (Minieterial laughter.) I thought when we got the great Reform Government in p__r there was going to _c a new era of reform so far as loan moneys are concerned. And what about the Tiiince Minister's loan of last year? On the hon. gentleman's own showing Mr. Myers' loan has been renewed «t a letter price than that at w—chAe nwed his own loan at the beginniiw of _„ year. Doe* he own to it! (A Ministerial member: Go on.l What will .ion. member* think when I tell them tint Mt. Myers' loan now stands inyrach _ position that, taking the whole period of the loan, it -will turn out to be £100.000 better to New Zealand than the loan ra. Ed by Mr. Allen in London last year." Hon. Mr. Allen: Rubbish!

Mr. Kir- ell i fore-fully): I do_t like a statement like that, so 'I will procee4 to ram mv statement down the ion. frentleman . throat. (Boars of laughter and Ormc*'tion" applause.. ■

Tlip member for Avon Quoted » nrrm'ber of fi<nires relatin. to the S_T>nort'n_ hi> contention, he —Hf.:

".Mr. loan now stands for t?_ ?S year. it--has-to Tun .cgst.io flm country, of _4- 3/3- .netv'ceht. , f§i_. T - IA-linn'* lorn war; raise- at £4 3/V (Confuted ;»te_oetions.)

A S-G-XiinCIAKT !___«(-. ", The Minister of Finance.' <_____ Mr. Russell, owed an explanation to this country why he floated the loan •_! renewal of Mr. Myers' short-dated _ut eight months''before its time. jße Government, own loan was su_s__ed -vp' times over, and the Tenawal could i»« been equally well placed. In_t_d, llf, Allen preferred to go upon a bad market. The Prime Minister re__rked that ft was the Finance Minister's d. ty to __*Chis loans as dhcaply as possible,«_ tie money described as being ra_e_.«ecretly and surreptitiously "was dheaiper tb-niny other loan. The opcraition ___'-Wti £10.000. Would it Jravc -been, liris*, seeing the country had to face a total ft. oitv of nine millions, to hare waited W»t3 the last moment? The Government hit to raise tiwelve million- this year, including eight millions of renewals «» short-dated debentures. ..>.'-.

The Minister of I_nar_e said ie *«• sorry to see memiber. on -he otter.Mte of the House anxious to make pirtr capital out of finance. (Opposition. 1-u*-tor. and " You never did!") The'MiM* ter added that the effect must be injnnouc to our finance. ___i Mr. Isitt: What about the surptas**Mr. Myers: Is that a fair way of put-, tin<r it? , Mr. Russell: Will yon aflow mc w show you your own -oec-he?? . The'lHon. James lA_en stated that tw •money had all feeen raised throu(_ t» broker in _i P ordinary w*v. unonj" advice of tihe broker and Hiffh »«""£ -ioner. The tremendous four-million loan, .übscribed ~__WM one and a-half hours. -howedJ|«R»' pi-Wie had more confidence m the tw«& rvf to .X.v than Ch_t c* two years » The Minister concluded tbe Government bad br. ,<-ht of the country to a .«§ ■fo-tir_. n statement wnich ,wm reeen with ironical Opposition laughter...

At the last meeting of «*«?§s of the Takapuna Citizens %»£_s was resolved on the motion of Mr. tott tliat the following remit ne- fe warded to the trough League views with great alarm ttfc&g dition of the lake, which, the continued wet weather, etm tinues to subside, and respectfully** ge.st that the Council have a regu monthly record of the levels of »• take taken, and that the League be supplied with a copy of same. Tie purchase of the steamer A»r«* : by the Northern Company has now•d. all but completed. Captain Hammonfl, assistant manager to the ported at a meeting of, the dwg held yesterday that beyond a few m«w repairs, the vessel was now in » ™. dition to be taken over by tfie am pany. The Arapawa has beer,r gSg green—the same colour as other scls of the White Funnel fleet, and m was to have been launched "° m ™_ patent slip at Wellington this rooming Captain E. Dorling has been.com* sinned to bring the steamer to AU-, land.

| T- naturalist- in H_-orddur*r 1 .ivs the "Daily Mail," have s- M <**r in trans fearing "the song of the nig ingale frcm one village to another y mi-ans of the telephone. 'The dB»« c ° between the feathered songster and tn listener was about three mil-v '. while the high notes were not trnnsj ferred, the "deep throb carried- *<"• It i- pointed out that the t_epM»» reeehcr was quite a hundred yard* fro™ where the bird was singing, and h»» . been possible to place the receiver_*i»» li ft v yards of the bird a very fSIfJ.E dering of the song, it is believed, _°££ have been conveyed across a. ■*f greater d_t?nce than three nflf.