LOAN FAILS TO FILL

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28920, 13 June 1959, Page 12

LOAN FAILS TO FILL

£1,128,000 Below £lsm Target

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 12.

The Minister of ’Finance (Mr Nordmeyer) announced tonight that the £l5 million works loan which closed today was undersubscribed.

From returns available to the Reserve Bank up to the close of business today, the amount subscribed was £13,872,000.

“Naturally, I am disappointed at this result,’’ he said. “I expect there will be some further amounts in transit that have not been recorded in these figures, but Such addition to the loan will not be known until next week.

“A feature of this loan has been a fairly heavy reduction in the number of smaller subscribers, but subscriptions by investment houses and the larger investors have been well maintained. “I was quite confident that the £l5 million asked for was within the capacity of New 'Zealanders to subscribe.

“Nevertheless, our capital development programme must proceed. The result will, of course, have some bearing on Government financial planning in other directions for the current year.” This is the second time since the war years .that a Government loan has been undersubscribed. A National Government loan of £lO million, half-way through its term of office, was- undersubscribed by £ 154,000.

Financial circles tonight said they thought the present loan the least successful since pre-war days.