THE NEW LOAN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1378, 23 October 1886, Page 3

THE NEW LOAN.

The fact that our application to the British money-lender for a further million and a half, or, to speak by the card, for one million six hundred and odd thousands, has only barely succeeded in meeting with acceptance, the total of the offers received amounting to only two millions, and these at, or so little above the minimum that the entire proceeds average only os 6d or thereabouts is one that deserves to be laid to heart. It is sufficient to show that there is a point beyond which it is dangerous to strain our credit, and that that point has been already reached. There is no doubt that the unfortunate condition of the finances of New South Wales, revealed in the recent statement by Sir Patrick Jennings, by which it was shown that there would ! e a deficiency at the end of the year, in that colony, of no less than two millions sterling, had the effect of causing a feeling of apprehension with regard to Australian and New Zealand securities generally, and that this in some measure accounts for the fewness of tenders and the lowness of the offers made for this new issue of New Zealand stock; but over and above all this we are inclined to think that in financial circles this colony is regarded as having reached the length of its tether, at anyrate for the present. And it would be wonderful if it were not so, in view of the persistent way in which some of the London papers, the Stcnulard in particular, have been continuously holding us up as improvident, and warning and lecturing the English capitalist upon the folly and danger of encouraging and bolstering up such a set of spendthrifts. It is quite true that the journals referred to appear to have a very hazy notion of the assets we possess in the shape of public works, and in contrasting the debt of New Zealand with that of the Mother Country, for instance, forget that in order to inrtitute a fair comparison the cost of English railways should be added to the National Debt; and it is also true that individually the assets of the population here are much larger than at Home, and that when these facts are allowed for, our position is at once seen to be perfectly sound and safe. But these facts notwithstanding, it is also true that our burdens are quite sufficiently heavy, and that it is unwise to go on piling up the load of our debt. While, therefore, it is to be regretted that we have been made to pay for this last advance more than the money was fairly worth, in view of the unquestionable soundness of the security, the circumstance will stand us in good stead if it induce our public men to recognise that our credit must not be further strained, and that borrowing must not be resorted to with undue frequency. Ministers announced last session that if their proposals were agreed to, they would not ask for a further loan until after March, 1888, and it will now be apparent to them, and also to the House and to the country, that it is necessary that that promise should be adhered to. There had appeared indications that it was quite possible that next session an attempt would be made to be released from that engagement, and the present reminder is perhaps well-timed, as it may prevent the bringing down of financial proposals involving the issue of another loan in 1887. We have been told pretty plainly that our friends at Home are of opinion that we should not go the pace quite so fast, and we shall be wise if we take the hint, and

take means to cut our coat according to the cloth we possess—in a word, if we at once set ourselves to the solving of the problem of how to live within our income.