STATE AND MUNICIPAL ENTERPRISE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 199, 23 August 1926, Page 4

STATE AND MUNICIPAL ENTERPRISE.

WHAT THE INVESTOR THINKS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, July 10. New Zealand, which has perhaps done as much as any country in the way ol State and municipal enterprise, will r ead with interest what an unemotional Fabian financial expert has to say about the Auckland loan and others: — "Opponents of public ownership might (but probably did not) note indications of its steady growth, by the fact that on one day alone last week three public authorities obtained money for public undertakings from the British investor, the prospectuses of the Auckland Electric Power Board, the City of Reading, and the Province of Westphalia havinsr appeared side by side. The Auckland Electric Power Board issued £250,000 of 5 per cent debentures at 97 for extensions; Reading placed £520,000 of 5 per cent stock for tramways, etc.; and the Province of Westphalia issue was £835,000 of 7 per cent bonds at 98J, and is to be utilised for waterworks and other publicly-owned undertakings. The prospectus of the last-named makes a point of the fact that the province itself owns land and houses valued at £5,000,000. Needless to say, in spite of the disappoval of the 'Daily Mail,' the loan was immediately oversubscribed."