MR. MASSEY ON THE LOAN.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1031, 21 January 1911, Page 6

MR. MASSEY ON THE LOAN.

In another column weprint an -interesting interview with Mr. Massey upon the Prime Minister's statement at St. Kilda with reference to the wretched failure of the; five, million loan. Most of'theifacts: given by 'the Leader of the Opposition have already been laid before the.public in these columns,-.but there are two. points, in his observations that deserve, attention." ' 'The first is that the refusal of the public to applyfor more than 7 per cent! of the issue amounts to the most serious financial rebuff the country has suffered for. very many years. Sir Joseph' Ward got the money, of course, but.in.order to get it he had to pay an altogether abnormal price and. offer . all kinds . of" luxurious terms. . He still speaks of having got the money at'per cent., but, as everybody knows, he offered terms that give the .British- investor over £4-per- cent. Mr. Massey promises to give the Government an opportunity to show exactly what the money has cost the country, and we. think, he will have some difficulty in getting the information. . .The other point is the opinion of the London press upon the issue. The Prime Minister, we knowj claims the right to refuse to answer The Dominion— ho has exercised this right in the thousand or so angry ■ speeches in which, to our natural satisfaction, he has carried the name of our paper into every nook and corner of the country—but he can hardly ignore Mr. Massey's implied challenge.' to him to, prove that "nearly all"' the' . financial' critics of consequence have declared the loan to have been'highly satisfactory.