THE NEW PLYMOUTH SPEECH.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1038, 30 January 1911, Page 4

THE NEW PLYMOUTH SPEECH.

+ i There are one or two points in the Prime Minister's speech which call for attention, and before noticing them we may observe that if the summary, of his speech preserves the tone of it .Sir Joseph, may bo complimented upon having gained' in brightness, and readableness, by losing in violence and asperity. When, for example, in dealing with the transfer of New Zealand capital to Queensland, he says that Queensland is quoted until one is sick of it, he strikes a simple and natural note that rather disarms 1 criticism. So also he never before 1 said anything so agreeable about the merits of unbounded optimism as that it tends to lengthen life, although we should be remiss if we failed to point out that while he is thus laying tho foundations for an enormously long life for himself, lie is doing so at the expense of the country's health and strength. The main point on which we wisn to say a ,word is the want of confidence amongst' local investors. .Sir, Joseph would dearly lovo to describe as unpatriotic pessimists and worse those people who complain that local capital is lying idle for want of that security which tho investor generally desires for undertakings. It is his misfortune that the strongest criticisms have come from quarters at which he dare not hurl'those terrific bolts of denunciation which he .. reserves for.The,Dominion. For .the criticism, has come, not only from leading business men in Auckland and Christchurch, who brought forward figures to support them, but also from the Chairman of Directors of the Bank of New Zealand. It is not sufficient, as a reply to these critics, to wonder why people had not. more confidence in the country in which they made their money. The fact., that ope has made - some money in New Zealand is very far indeed from being a. reason why he should be anxious to express his con-' fidence in it by starting a 'new' industry with his savings or extending an old one. ■ To the Prime Minister it may seem inexplicable that the. man with money to invest is shy of investing it. He may ' think it a mere caprice. _ But there is all the difference in the world between the investor's point of view and the Prime Minister's—the difference between prudence and responsibility on the one hand and recklessness and irresponsibility on the other. Upon the five million loan Sir Joseph said little that was new, but hq advanced a remarkable theory for the alow rate at which the underwriters aro unloading their burden. He suggests that the underwriters are so fond of the debentures that they hate to part, with. them ! As he develops his theory, no doubt, we shall be asked to conjure up a picture of the London investing public holding mass-meetings to • pass resolutions demanding that the underwriters shall be forced to sell the debentures to 'them. Really, _ Sir Joseph must not ask the public to believe anything so ridiculous. If it is true, as he suggests, that had .the loan been underwritten,' the underwriters'would have come along as ordinary investors, why did he go to tho expense of hiving the loan underwritten? In another column we give some figures about the loan,and from them will be seen the reason why the Government. did not dare to go on the market with a plain issue' of inscribed stock. It wishes, as Sir Joseph's speeches have shown; to be able to say it got 98i for a loan at; 3$ per cent, and it "can only, do this by "a process that conceals the fact that what it borrowed for £3 10s. per annum was not £98 10s. but only about £95. We note that the Prime Minister intends to speak at Pukekohe, in Mr. Massey's- electorate. This will suggest to many people that Mr. Massey ought to return the compliment by speaking at Winton; and we trust tnat he will be able to. do so.