LOAN MONEY

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 13 September 1921, Page 5

LOAN MONEY

NO FUNDS PROM LONDON

SIR FRANCIS BELL'S EXPLANA-

TION

It has been indicated already that no part of the £5,000,000 recently borrowed in London by the New Zealand Government will be available for expenditure within the Dominion The loan prospectus stated that £3,000.000 wag reserved for the purchase of roll- | ing-stock, plant, and material in Britain, but did not account definitely for the balance of the sum raised, a net amount of about £1,750,000. :- The Minister of Finance, answering a question on this point, said the posL tion was simply that the Consolidated Fund had been providing money for loan works, and the loan money had been used to meet engagements in London which should be met from the Consolidated Fund. Our engagements in London exceeded £5,000,000 for the i present year. The loan money had been | left in London to meet these engagements, which included interest payI ments and payments for rolling stock j and plant. Had the loan money been I brought to New Zealand it would simply i hare meant that an equal amount from the Consolidated Fund would have had to be sent from London to the Doj minion, involving a useless payment »f j exchange. It was true that the raising of the loan had enabled a greater sum from the Consolidated Fund ..to be set aside for public works, but against this had to be set the fact that the revenue was coming in very slowly, as it did at thiß time of the year.—Dominion.