DEAR MONEY

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 80, 1 October 1924, Page 9

DEAR MONEY

During the year municipal councils in New South Wales have had great difficulty in obtaining money for any large reproductive work. The closing down of the Commonwealth Bank ' on. local government loans has seriously hau-* dicapped them. In their exploration of every poesible avenue to procure loan money, councils who have been able to secure loans have had to pay the highest rate of interest in their history. A remarkable example is that of the suburban and important. municipality of ■ Woollahra. It. recently borrowed £70,----000 for twenty-five years at 6£ per cent. —the_ best terms available. The position is that during the currency of tho loan the council will repay £142,555. It is now being urged that tho Government, with facilities for borrowing money at much cheaper rates than the councils, should make loan money available to them. The caso is cited by t!i9 Local Government Association of the principle, said here to be in operation in New Zealand, where, it is stated, money is advanced to councils through the State Bank, the rate of interest being half per cent, more than that at which the Government borrows the money with a resultant profit to the Government, and a tremendous saving in- in terest to the councils. The councils, faced as they are with extensive road work, view the position with disquiet