LOCAL BODY LOANS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22428, 26 May 1936, Page 10

LOCAL BODY LOANS

OPERATIONS OF THE BOARD CONVERSION NEARLY COMPLETE [by TELEGRAPH —OWN correspondent] WELLINGTON, Monday Information regarding the operations of the Local Government Loans Board for the 12 months ended March 31, 1936, and a resume of conversion operations in connection with the whole of the local body internal debt, which are now practically completed, has been furnished by the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash. The total amount of the applications submitted to the board for general loans (exclusive of conversion schemes) during the year amounted to £4,235,926, and of this sum £4,061,076 was represented by new applications and £174,850 by sums which previously had been referred back to the local bodies concerned and again submitted for reconsideration. The loans sanctioned were:—Redemption loans £2,051,790, new loans £1,550,690; referred back and declined, £633,446. Of the amount of redemption loans sanctioned the total figure given tak<»s the place of the previous debt of £2,196,079. As £1,625,000 of the amount sanctioned for renewal loans during the year under review was in respect of two London loans the balance of renewal loans for all other local bodies totalled only '£428,790, which was a marked reduction on the renewal loans of the previous years. This was brought about largely by conversion operations, which resulted in arrangements being made for the complete liquidation of the debt then dealt with within the new terms authorised, thus obviating the necessity for renewal loans. The local body debt convertible at March 31, 1933, was £48,456,645. By December 31, 1935, £43,540,169 had been converted, £2,924,241 had been repaid, renewed or excluded, leaving £1,992,235 outstanding. Of the 493 local authorities, 349 had converted their debt, and the remainder had either not taken action or the amounts were too small to warrant conversion. Applications were still being received for conversion.