THE MONEY MARKET.

Otago Witness, Issue 2804, 11 December 1907, Page 33

THE MONEY MARKET.

A CHEERFUL OUTLOOK.

STATEMENT BY SIR J. G. WARD.

AUCKLAND, December 3. In the course of an interview this,morning the Prime Minister stated that the new tariff was having a very beneficial effect on trade. No established industries had been affected, while already -three new industrial concerns were about to commence as a result of its operations. Continuing, Sir Joseph said there had been a drop in wool, and that was th« direction in which we were most concerned. The maintenance of the values of our staple products was of immense importance to all in this country, whether country ox town dwellers, whether large trader oi email. _ He imagined that, as far ac we could judge, the crisis in America had passed. It was a very disturbing trend in finance in a great country like America when the railways were privately owned, for the great railway kings had 'the opportunity of rigging the market in their stocks, and the result was that from time to. time they brought about these great dislocations in the true value of rauwajt stocks. This was often done, to a criminal extent, and eanbled the financial magnate* to make large sums of money out of the public^ a panic being sometimes precipitated in the meeting of the obligation?. There was now a tendency throughout America to legislate to bring about a cessation of this kind of thing, and President Roosevelt, who was at times blamed by financial kings for his so-called interference; was, in the, speaker's judgment, working strenoueuly in the direction of preventing such trouble in the future, and it was to the true interests of America that such a policy should be pursued. ''And we have enough money here for our needs?" queried the reporter. "Yes, in New Zealand to-day, both publicly and privately, there is more than sufficient money for the needs of the country. In fact, one of the difficulties I have, as Minister of Finance, at the moment is to find investments for the large sums of money that are' coming into the Treasury through various channels. ' AltogefLei- the condition is moot satisfactoryand there is no need to fear in New Zealand that there will be insufficient to carry on the private business and industries of the country. We have now financial freedom equal to that which has existed at any time in the past. If there w&re any difficulty with the public finances the position would be quite different, but fortunately that is not the case. Our million loan of last session for public works was all secured on satisfactory terms, and £800,000 for the purchase of gilt-edged .securities in London was obtained without any difficulty and without going into fhe London money, market at all. This is satisfactory evidence that our credit stands very well at Home. In my opinion we were never stronger both at Home and in the Dominion, than we are to-day, and even though wool has dropped, it is still at a very high figure, and seeing ■ the demand for wool all over the world, there cannot be a very long or serious drop. He would be a very sanguine man who expected the high prices of the past year or two to remain without any alteration."