THE HALF-MILLION LOAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1989, 7 April 1892, Page 17

THE HALF-MILLION LOAN.

The Ministerial organ to-day absolutely denies the truth of the statement made last night by the Post, on the authority of Mr Seddon's recent Palmerstou speech, that a halfmillion loan had been obtained from a New Zealand bank. The Ministerial journal asserts most emphatically that the loan referred to by Mr Seddon was the one raised several years ago by Sir Harry Atkinson, which is now being gradually liquidated, and that no new transaction of the kind has either been entered into or contemplated. It says : — "The Treasurer has not done, is not doing, and is not on the point of doing any such underhand thing." It is not easy to reconcile this version of> the case with Mr Sec don's words, but, at all events, as I communicated to you the original report, I now send also the inspired contradiction. The Post to-night insists that Mr Seddon's words will not boar the interpretation placed on them by the New Zealand Times, and states : ' ' We are not without corroborative evidence in favour of Mr Seddon's version of the facts. It is within our knowledge that the probability of a loan of the kind being required by the Government at no distant date has been mooted in banking circles for some time, and that more than one bank was sounded upon the subject. It is possible the money has not yet been borrowed, but wo are convinced that Mr Seddon was speaking the truth when he said it was arranged for, and that negotiations had been going on with a view to raising such a loan. Probably he ought not have told this to the public, but he did."