BELATED INFORMATION

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14292, 1 March 1912, Page 10

BELATED INFORMATION

LOAN RETURN WITHHELD.

FOURTEEN MONTHS OLD.

(SPECIAL TO "TUB PKESS"). WELLINGTON", February 29. That thero is good ground for th© charge against the Ward Administration that information is withheld from Parliament was "strikingly demonstrated in the Houso of Representatives this afternoon. A return of the cost of the loan of £1,850,000 of 1909 was presented by tho Prime Minister, and the accompanying letter from tho High Commissioner was dated September 10th, 1910. Tho High Commissioner stated that tho full amount authorised to be raised had been effected by tho sale of £06,390 3_ per cent stock, in addition to the £1,850,000 debentures under tho loan prospectus, making a total of £1,916.390 debentures and stock issued. Tho total receipts amounted to £1,850,000, and tho expenses .to £37,108. After deducting all expenses, but without taking into consideration the increased indebtedness caused by conversions into stock of tho scrip and debentures issued under the loan, which was, at tho timo of writing, still proceeding, or of any expense incurred in tho Dominion, tho net result of tho loan was stated to be £96 10s 8d per £100 debenture of stock issued. j WHAT ABOUT THE DISCOUNT? j An interesting debate was begun by I an enquiry from Mr W. Fraser con- | cerning tho discount. j The Primo Minister: It is all there, j Ho added that tho law authorised tho j issuo of sufficient stock to cover tho I discount, so that tho full amount of the loan authorised would be realised. Mr Fraser asked whether tho expenses included discount. Tho Hon. T. Mackenzie: Discount is not expenses? Mr Fraser: Oh, is it not? Tho! point is whether allowance is made for the discount in calculating tho net result of £96 10s. , Mr Herries emphasised the point of tho question, and added an enquiry, why tho information had been delayed bo long. The Prime Minister: It could not havo been laid on tho table until tho end of last session in any case. Mr Herries: The loan was authorised in 1909, and this is 1912. The Prime Minister: Tho samo old story. MR ALLEN'S CRITICISM. Mr James Allen said so far as he could ascertain the discount, which apparently amounted to £29,282, was not included in the loan agent's account. On April 14. 1910, £1,822,250 was'paid into tho Bank of England account, and tho final transaction occurred on September 15th, 1910. What he wanted to know was why this information had not been given before. "Oh," exclaimed Mr Allen, "I,did not notice this before The letter is dated September 16th, 1910, tho day. after the loan was completed. Whero has it been in the meantime ".? Mr Allen said "ho was quite justified, in. view of this fact, , in charging the Government with treating the House and the country with indifference. Tho Primo Minister: You aro misrepresenting the whole position, as usual. Mr Allen: In what way ? Tho Primo Minister: Is thero anything in that return to which you can tako exception? (Opposition laughter). A COSTLY LOAN. Mr Allen: I am bound to say that I consider that tho loan is a very costly ono. Fifteen years ago the present Prime Minister had raised a loan without tho agency of under--writers, and had boasted of his ability to do so. In 1894 a loan of £1,500,000 was raised without underwriting, and at a cost of only f por cent. This loan cost li per cent. Air Allen instanced loans which had been raised free, of brokerage. Ho suggested that the Prime Minister should bo perfectly honest and inform the Houso why the, information had not been given. Tho Primo Minister objected to tho use of the terra "perfectly honest." If Mr Alien was allowed to use that language, ho would have tho right to talk of Mr Allen as'"perfectly dishonest." . Mr Speaker said that if ono member used language that was out of order, that was no justification for another member to use languago that was against tho Standing Orders. Ho had* not understood Mr Allen to iise tho words in that way- He understood Mr Allen to havo asked "if the Premier would bo honest and tell the Houso." (Hoar, hear.) Tho Speaker' said ho did not think Mr Allen had transgressed the rules. Sir Joseph Ward (sharply): Very well, then, sir, I know how to speak or ihim now. WITHHELD FOR FOURTEEN MONTHS. Mr F. M. -B, Fisher said that tho letter must havo reached New Zealand before tlie end of the session of 1910. Now, for somo unaccountable reason, it was laid before tho House- The Primo Minister should explain why tho letter had been held back for fourteen months. Dr. Newman said that the days when the Dominion could borrow money at 3_ per cent, were gone. It would be a wiser policy to offer 4 per cent., becauso' when the lower, rato was offered, discounts and charges moro than accounted for the difference. It was far better to offer 4 per cent, and have a loan floated at par than to go in for theso intricate and costly arrangements. Mr Fraser said that tho actual cost of tho loan was £66,390. Tho peoplo of tho Dominion had a right to know what loans really cost, and not to bo put off with a garbled statement about thorn- i Sir Joseph Ward retorted in an angry tone"that tho garbled statementwero made by the gentlemen opposite, and they had been doing so since 1895. Ho wont on to refer to Mr Allen's nt>> teranco on the subject of a 3 per cent, loan raised in 1895. Mr Allen said tho Prime Minister was a first-class, up-to-date "phonograph." becauso in 1895 he bad severely criticised a loan which he now eulogised up to the skies. In his subsequent remarks, Sir Joseph Ward described Mr Allen as a "Cassandra in trousers," and said that tho member for Bruce "knows as much about floating a loan as my boot does." The member for Tauranga had .said that the £1,850,000 loan was authorised in 1909, ignoring tho fact that its flotation had been delayed for a considerable period until tho market w«i_ favourable. Mr Herries: You raised temporary debentures. ~ __ Sir Joseph Ward said that Mr Herries had snokon of the loan being floated, when, in fact, they were waiting for the market. Mr Herries: I said it was floated in 1910. , '■ Sir Joseph Ward, after some further references to temporary advances said that ho supposed tho member far VV akatipu would contradict next. Mr Fraser: It depends what you say. (Laughter.) WHAT IS DISCOUNT? The Prime Minister: Does he try to say that discount upon a Joan is part of"the expense of raising a loan. Mr Fraser: Of course it is. The Prime Minister challenged Mr Fraser to show that discount was included in tho cost of a loan by any country in the world. j

After some further remarks, tho Prime Minister was reminded by Mr Fisher that he had not yet answered tho question put to him. The Primo Minister: I am going to do things in my own way. Ho had looked up the records nnd had discovered that very few of those who had in the past controlled tho financial operations of New Zealand had given a quarter of the information that ho had given. In the ordinary course of things, if this letter had come to him, he would havo laid it on tho table of the House on the day after he received it, but it never had come beforo him. Now that the letter was here it was all in his favour. Mr Fisher: To whom is it addressed? Tho Primo Minister: To the Minister of Finance. Mr Fisher: Who received it ? The Prime Minister: It was received by the Treasury in the ordinary way. Scores of letters addressed officially were opened in the _>epartment. Ho was not in tho habit of laying letters on financial matters before the House. Mr Allen: That is our trouble. SECRECY NECESSARY. The PrTmo Minister reitera'ced that the contents of the letter were entirely satisfactory. Anyone conducting tho financial affairs of the Dominion was bound to observe, for a; considerable timo, a j great deal of secrecy, and anyone making premature disclosures would net the country into a mess. Tho return was laid on the table.