DOMINION FINANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 242, 9 October 1920, Page 12

DOMINION FINANCE.

FttBUC DEBT AND ASSETS. EXCESS OP LIABILITIES £V 2,1*3,321. PRIVATE WEALTH £000,000,000. (By Telegraph.—Tress Association.) WELLINGTON', Friday. A statement of national aasetn arid liabilities was placed before, the Hunsn of Representatives by the Prime V mister in moving the second reading of the Loan Bill to-day. The grose public debt of the Dominion on March 31 last, stated Mr. Massey, was £231.'170.765. The amount of the debt at the end of the 1914-15 linncial year had ben £99,822.010, ,md the increase since that date had bpen ] #101,343,246. All of this increase, except about £1-2,000,000, had be?n due to the war. The Assets that could fairly he plnopil against the gross piibl'c debt were very substantial indeed. A total of £5" .71X1.7111 wae made up of such items no follow*.: — Sinking funds £7,257,000. investments of cash balances of public account* £20,200.000, Bank of X-j.v Zealand shares £8?5,000, reserve fund securities | £80(1,000, State £14,479,000, cash in the public account £ 8,210.00'), caeh in the hands of officers £11,050,000. i The Bank of New Zealand share* were quoted at what ilie had paid lor them, fhey pfoba-bly vert wortli £2,000,000 in the open "market. The expenditure if the Ocvernmpnt upon railwaj-a, Dublio buildings, telegraphs, native lands, settlement land, ■harbdurs, lighthouses, electHcttl in-tnlla-tione, etc., Up to Martin 31, IWO, had amounted to £78,317,<M3. These items, said Mr. Maeeey, were nearly All interest-earning and they certainly were worth today much More than they toad cost. The railways, for example, were worth a great deal more than they 'had cost to build. The same : might be said confidently of the telegraphs and tiie native and settlement Innds. The estimated value of the Crown land remaining in the hands of the Government was £25,000/000. This was a tangible asset. Th« itema he had quoted. placed againet the gross public debt, left an exceed of liab'litieg over assets of £152,149,331. Thi& sum included money that had been spent cm roads, immigration, State coal mines, drainage of land, and other indirectly profitable services. DOMINION'S PRIVATE WEALTH. The private wealth of the Dominion, added Mr. Massey, was estimated by the Treasury at £500,000.000, and this item could be placed againet the excess of public debt over the assets he had already quoted. He thought the finan--1 cial position of the Dominion was very strong indeed.' He did not know of any other country that was as well oli' financially as New Zealand. Mr. MasseV said lie might mention that he had not abandoned hope of getting some money from Germany ac New Zealand's share of the indemnity. He was not. sanguine enough to believe that I the Dominion Would get very much from 1 thitt Bourse, but he knew there would be something coining. New Zealand would not get cash from Germany. The payment probably Would take the form of long-term debentures, paying interest. He had told the financial experts at tlifi Peace Conference that New Zealand would be prepared to abandon all other claims if it was paid the amount of its war pensions. The pensions _ai , £2,000,000 a year represented a capital j I sum of about £25,000,000, and he did ! not expect to get that much. Person- ' ally, lie did not believe the Dominion could expect more than £4,000.000. The. actual amount would be known within I a couple of years.