A £4,000,000 LOAN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1454, 31 May 1912, Page 5

A £4,000,000 LOAN.

AND TIGHT MONEY. REMARKABLE STATEMENT BY Si I? JOSEPH WARD. Sir Joseph Ward disclaimed any inlrn. tion of making a policy speech when he spoke at tho Town Hall last eveiy>.;. but there were times when it might hav> been imagined that he was speaking in Parliament House or on (he hustings. At one stage lie mentioned that his administration had terminated not long before the end of a financial year. H was a matter of supreme satisfaction lo him thai the iinanrial results attained dulling that veal' were the best recorded in the history of the Dominion. Tho year had produced, a record revenue of li'll,o.'j;i.o')o. The only Australian Slate to exceed this was New South Wales, which had double the population, of New /.calami'. His financial policy had been crit'cised from (he time when he was first appointed Colonial Treasurer, but if ho had adopted ilie policy followed in other countries, his last year of olliee would have shown a surplus of XJ,390,000. Jn New Zealand, however, .sums were transferred from ordinary revenue for the pro. sedition of public works. Half a million sterling had been transferred in this way Inst: year and at the beginning of this financial vear, (lie country bad ,L'807.2C0 to credit. Whatever the future might hold in store, he claimed that, ho had left tho finances of this country in a thoroughly sound and strong condition. Tluls was the only country in the world where provision had been made for paying olf every loan. Ho had put it or, record more than once (hat a political upheaval in this country was likely to lead to some tightness in the money market. He was not opposed to (he opponents of (lie party li<i had led getting into office for a tinie, but the fact remained that (hero was a lightness of money, just now, which was felt in different portions of (his country. This would disappear very sooii. One of , the things for which he hail been blamed was raising money for carrying on tho various requirements of this country. Prior to tho first ballots, he had taken an opportunity of matins preliminary arrangements lor raising a loan or X 1,000,000 lor New /.calami. Between tho first and second ballots lie decided that it would not lio a fair thins t'° have any such operation carried out. On seeing Ihe result of the second ballot, he dccided to abstain from raising tlio loan for the reason that in tlio event of the other partv coming info power, if was only reasonable that it should k<> left free to shape its own financial policy. Had lira result of the election been favourable; to tho Liberal parf.v, four millions sterling of capital would have been introduced into New Zealand at the end of February last. Hail Ibis been done there would liavo been no tightness of money, nor would ii have been said that business was .somewhat slack at Iho present moment