The Star. FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1889. Midland Railway.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6436, 4 January 1889, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1889. Midland Railway.

' Money being still tight; it is not sur- ! prising that the Midland Bailway Company still delays its venture on the money market. The tightness is due primarily to ■ Mr ' Goschen's successful consolidation ! scheme. The scheme sent a very large 1 quantity of capital in search of investment ' more lucrative than two and a half per cent. The consequence was a large mass of speculative- purchases, which require Bank assistance on settling days. There is the further aggravation' that people have been wild enough to lend any amount of money to the Argentine. ,■ What a dis--1 organised mass of ignorance the money market' must be, when New Zealand is : flouted, and. the Argentina encouraged to borrow contrary to every known canon) But that is not the point. The point is, I that in consequence of these loans gold has gone in large quantities to Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, making further tightness in the money market. Hence the time has not been propitious for the Midland Bailway. It is not, therefore, surprising that we do not hear of the floating of their venture. But it will come in time. ' The ' time limit of the contract will take care of that. What is surprising is, that in the ' face of such an obvious explanation a certain " powerful " journalist, as Sir Harry . Atkinson delights to call him, should have conceived the idea of searching among the fates for what he is pleased to call the "Midland muddle."