QUESTIONS OF FINANCE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 334, 22 October 1908, Page 8

QUESTIONS OF FINANCE.

. Sir,—ln the absence of members, who Usually .assist to.elucidate the Premiers ex- ' planations on financial points, will you allow ' me spalce t-o L )iiy deal with jtwo of these which" occur in the < report of his Palmerston speech.' He there complains of. ingratitude, since he was not awarded "a , word of encouragement or approval" when out of re,venue, he 1 paid, off £300,000 of floating debt. It has always been regarded as somewhat inconsistent that with-') our boasted snrplusses there should' exist'a-floating debt . of £700,000, in shape of Treasury Bills, borrowed in aid'of .revenue and carried forward from year .to year. That .this revenue debt has been reduced to £400,000 is true, but on the' other, 'hand: power was taken, to . float Treasury Biils .in London, and by a , recent public;cablegram mention was,lthink, made of ' Treasury Bills to the amount of £1,000,000 with', one year's currency being < offered in that market. That: such were offered for sale is probably' erroneous ; still such bonds have presumably been 'created. I do not question the necessity for'this step, but in.'' presence of it, • surely the Premier expects too much when he asks for an' exuberant gratitude over this small revival of financial' virtue, in the reduction here by' £300,000. Next we are told that the interest 4 on. the public debt, which in. 1891 averagfed £4 10s. 3d., has been reduoed to £3 14s. Td. '• This may be true, and still misleading. Our old debts carrying high interest, and on: which large sinking funds had accrued; , have been largely converted (and, by the :way; the sinking fund 3 all' spent)-,. but this conversion to a lower . rate of interest . was affected'by adding 'to the amount, of the debt a premium, heavy enough to tempt the bondholder, and while the rate of: interest may so have been reduced its total-is-not-necessarily! a reduced_cdst to the taxpayer.. Besides,- one ■ would like to see. the figures on -which this reduction is calculated,- as the gravest charge in .recent years against : the Treasury is ~the creation of short-dated debt, and at rates. of interest frequently ' .Tunning up to 4 per cent.—l am, etc., October 21. . ■ JNO. DUTHTE.