THE NEW ZEALAND LOAN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7372, 25 January 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE NEW ZEALAND LOAN.

The latest New Zealand Loan, though available for trustee investments, was not, I understand, exactly "rushed for" by the general public, and 'tis said the underwriters will have to take up fully one-half thereof. No official pronouncement as to the prdportion applied for by the public has been, or apparently will be, made at 13 Victoria-street, where the Hon. W. P. Reeves doth dwell during office hours. There is no eagerness to give information on this point. So taking current gossip as being somewhere near the truth, I must confess that the result of the issue is somewhat disappointing. New Zealand of course gets all the money she asked for, and it does not matter much to the colony whether the 1£ millions comes out of the underwriters' pockets or the coffers of the general public. She has to pay the underwriters their percentage in any event. But the fact

that the loan was so coldly received by the investing public is not a good advertisement for the colony, and I am sure Mr Reeves would have been better pleased if he had been able to tell the world at large that New Zealand wanted to borrow a million and a half, and the British investor threw three or four millions at her.

Personally I do not think the loan was issued at an opportune period, and it may be that the recent activity of the N.Z. Midland Railway bondholders had an adverse effect. It is certainly a fact that in spite of the legal decision given in connection with that long-drawn out dispute and the "graceful concession" recently made by the Government to the N.Z.M.R. folk, the general run of public opinion as reflected in our press is "agin' the Government." Some quidnuncs gird ,at Mr Beeves for having the cheek to price his colony's credit up to the New South Wales limit of £94 per £100, but I am one of those who believes that it is better to rate yourself high than low, and the chances are that at 93 the loan would have fared no better at the B.IVs hands, and as the underwriters have wanted the same percentage the lower figure would have meant the loss of £15,000 to the colony.