DOMINION'S CREDIT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19966, 7 June 1928, Page 7

DOMINION'S CREDIT.

DEMAND FOR NEW LOAN, LISTS CLOSED IN TWO HOURS. SUCCESS OF FIRST CONVERSION. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT'.! LONDON, May S. By offering a 4£ per cent, loan below par, the New Zealand Government followed the example set by several Home corporations last year in issuing a stock carrying less than 5 per cent., and thus introduced a new feature so far as recent Dominion borrowing is concerned. The Government may be well pleased with the results. It augurs well for the future. The matter was in the hands of the Bank of England and it was well advertised and heralded in the news columns of various important newspapers. The new loan consisted of £5,000,000 of per cent;, stock, redeemable in 1947. The price of issue was £94 10s per cent. Allowing for redemption, the yield obtainable on the new stock is about £4 19s 3d per cent., and a first full interest payment is to be made on November 1 next. The lists were opened at nine o'clock, and they had to be closed at 11 o'clock. Conversion List Quickly Filled. The Government also offered £5,225,000 worth of stock in exchange for holdings of 4 per cent, consolidated stock, due on November 1, 1929, at the rate of £lO4 10s of new stock for £IOO of the maturing stock. The acquired stock is to be paid off at par at the Bank of England on November 1, 1947. The prospectus stated that the list would be closed as soon as £5,000,000 of the 1929 stock had been surrendered, and a later paragraph intimated that it would be closed on or before- May 21. Instead of four weeks, two days sufficed to complete the first instalment of the conversion. Long Queue of Applicants. There have been the customary appreciatory comments! in the press. The Financial Times, for instance, remarked: "The Bank of England loans office was besieged by applicants for the New Zealand prospectus, and long before nine ■ o'clock a long queue had formed up, which extended partly down St. Swithin's Lane, partly down George Yard. When the bank opened its doors a wild scramble for prospectuses ensued. People literally fell over one another in .their anxiety to obtain the forms. Some applicants filled up their subscriptions on the spot; others rushed back to their offices and came hurrying back again, hoping that the list would not be shut before they could get their applications accepted. The scene reminded some of us of the extraordinary' excitement, which prevailed at the timo of the issue of the Burma Ruby Mines by Rothschilds—also in St: Swithin's Lane—when the street was filled with a surging mob. According to report, Lord Rothschild himself had to enter from the back of New Court and to climb through the window to get into his own office." Unsatisfied Demand. In a subsequent x-eference the Financial Times commented: "New Zealand could hav» obtained the whole of the £29,000,000 required for the conversion operation., and with ease, if she had wanted to do so, this month. Instead, £5,000,00*) of the new issue was set aside for those who wanted to convert their 1929 stock, and there will be dissatisfaction at the subscription lists being closed * so early as they were yesterday morning. This gave many trustees but little opportunity. for converting the amount of new stock included in the latest offer. "According to the prospectus, the list of conversion applications was to be closed when £5,000,000 of the 1929 stocks were surrendered. This gave the big holders—insurance companies and others —some slight advantage, of which it is presumed they availed themselves. "The present issue gone through with less smoothness than the. City is accustomed to expect in a colonial issue of this magnitude. The prospectus did not appear in timo to give everyone an " equal chance for subscribing to the loan. The Stock Exchange was closed on Tuesday, and brokers who received instructions from clients to send in applications for the New Zealand loan, getting these instructions on Wednesday, had to do the best they could to place the forms in. the hands of the bank by 10.45 a.m. on Wednesday. This, in some cases, proved to be a physical impossibility." TRADE WITH NEW ZEALAND. ME. BE ALE'S ENDEAVOURS. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]' LONDON, May 5. Mr. L. B. Beale, Trad§ Commissioner in New 2<ealand, has been visiting Sheffield to interview local manufacturers who are intex-ested in trade with the Dominion. He is on a tcur of the chief industrial centres in England to point out to manufacturers what is necessary to secure a bigger share of the trade of the, Dominion. "New Zealand is extraordinarily proBritish," Mr. Beale said, in an interview, "and endeavours in her national and every-day life to put that sentiment into practice. The Government of New Zealand has recently revised its tariff duties and has given the United Kingdom and the rest of the Empire, a very generous increase in the -privileges. This is particularly true regarding iron and steel products. United Kingdom products enter New Zealand free of duty, while the duty on the foreign goods has been increased. In addition to meeting competitive ; prices and supplying suitable goods, the British manufacturer generally will have i to pay more attention to attractive pte- | sentation and the method of packing \ g°°cls. This applies particularly to those , which are sold in retail shops, and such goods should be packed at the factory in exactly the condition in which the ulti- ( matß buyer will purchase them. This is i exceedingly important, particularly where s cutlery and table ware is concerned. We J find that our competitors look after this , side of their trade very carefully, and we ' cannot afford not to remember this." t