THE FIVE MILLIONS LOAN.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIII, Issue 14350, 16 November 1910, Page 5

THE FIVE MILLIONS LOAN.

STATEMENT BY' THE PREMIER. ALLOCATION CORRECTED. Per Press Association. "WELLINGTON, Nov. 15. In the House this afternoon, referring to the live millions loan. Sir •Joseph Ward said that the allocation

of amounts had been incorrectly given by him ill his statement on Saturday morning. The correct ligures are as follows: £ Advances to workers ... 500,000 Advances to settlers ... 1.500.000 Naval defence 1,250,00(3 Aid to public works and lands 1,750,000 Total £5,000,000 He went, on to refer to a cable published in the Press on Friday evening last, concerning ""which he had cabled %t} the High Commissioner, pointing out tbat a leakage of information had occurred. The High Commissioner had replied that leakage was unavoidable with underwriting. and it was fortunate that the loan was underwritten before there was a run on the Birkbeck Bank. The Premier went on to say that he had desired to defer a statement on the loan till Tuesday, but the cable news had made that impossible. He referred to an article on the subject appearing in the "Dominion" r£ Saturday, which had cither been written or dictated by Mr Herdman, and v. i'ich was of extremely vicious charcole:-. and quite on the line with what iieqr.ently happened. He had fi:;cd the amount of t!le loan himself, which was ope or the largest ever raised l>v the Dominion at one time. It was of the utmost consequence that lie should not have made a premature statement about the loan, in fairness Hi the un-lfTwriters. who ran the risk of being successful or otherw sc. Mr ! lordman said the Premier was absolutely '.Misinformed as to who was the writer oi the '' Dominion " article, v. I'ich lie had considered a fair report of what had occurred in the House. The statement made by the Premier was absolutely incorrect. The iV'inior read the article in question. and said he had to accept Mr Herdman's disclaimer. Referring to a remark of the latter re the Times,"; Sir J. G. Ward said he had never written an article for the '' '! inios " or asked for one to be v. ritten. The ''Dominion" article referred to an important loan concerning which be was at the time tongue-tied. Massey asked if the Prime Minister would place the prospectus or the loan on the table of the House tbjs session. Sir .1. O. Ward rcpiior] that this was impossible, as the in:yl would not reach Wellington in time, but he j.-"uh! do so_ next- session. The rate for underwriting was 1 per cent., the usual rate.