LOCAL BODY DEBT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20331, 14 June 1934, Page 15

LOCAL BODY DEBT.

65 Per Cent Borrowed in New Zealand.

The gTeat bulk of local body borrowing in recent years has been done with' in New Zealand, states the 1934 Local Authorities’ Hand Book, which has been issued by the Government Statistician. At the end of March. 1933—the close of the year under review—the amount domiciled “in the Dominion represented 65 per cent of the total local body debt, and of the baianee 26 per cent was owing to bondholders in Britain, and 9 per cent to Australian holders The total of the local body debt, internal and external, at March 31, 1933, was £65,642,541, of which £42,909,542 was domiciled in New Zealand, £17,003,321 in the United Kingdom, and £5,729,678 in Australia. During 1932-33 the amount domiciled in New Zealand increased by £2,086,530, the Hand Book explains, mainly owing to the transfer of loans formerly domiciled in Australia. The amount held in the United Kingdom decreased by £359,404, and in Australia bv £1,532,303. The average rate of interest on the locally-domiciled portion of the debt (other than Government) was reduced from 5.50 per cent to 4.48 per cent by special legislation, which took effect on April 1, 1933. The average over the whole debt (excluding Government), following the statutory reduction, was 4.74 per cent. On the debt domiciled in the United Kingdom the average rate of interest was 5.18 per cent, and on that held in Australia 5.36 per cent. There is also an additional charge for exchange oil interest payable in the United Kingdom. In view of the special attention which has been focused on local loans by recent changes, a new tabulation is given in the Hand Book, setting out in detail the domicile, rates of interest and veam of maturity of the indebtedness of all local districts.

Apart from this addition, however, the book, which is the ninth of its series, is of the .same size as its immediate predecessors, which were curtailed for economy reasons.