The Dominion. TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 1912. THE FOUR MILLION LOAN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1463, 11 June 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 1912. THE FOUR MILLION LOAN.

For reasons which they may or may not be able to defend later on, neither the Prime Minister nor the Minister for Finance would either confirm or deny the report that the New Zealand Government is raising some £4,000,000 by two-year bonds. It will surely strike most people as a very odd thing that this attitude of rcticence should be maintained by men who really must be aware of the existence of the electric telegraph. All London kaows all about the loan and the prospectus; yet the New Zealand taxpayer, who has to pay the piper,, is not regarded by his Government as being, worthy of any con- ! fidencc. We fancy we may be told that successful flotation demanded secrecy at this end, that discussion at this end would "damage the credit of tho country"—that, in short, the New Zealand taxpayer must not be trusted with any knowledge of his business' even after the commitmenthas been made. It is difficult to understand why such excuses, or any excuses at all/are put forward when the terms of a loan are once published in London. The time has come when an end should be made, once for all, of the kind of politics that links national finance to secrecy and mystery. Daylight and plain dealing arc surely due. In the meantime it is apparent, from the cable message printed yesterday, that British investors are hurrying forward to reap a rich harvest from a country that has too long been controlled by "a wizard of finance." "The prospectus," the cable message said, "has been favourably received." No one, wc imagine, will bo surprised at this. Who, _ with money to spare, would not let it out in New Zealand bonds for a couple (if years "at over £-1 per cent. 1 Working from the prospectus, tlioy have calculated in England that that is what the investor will receive. And that is part only of what the New Zealand taxpayer will have to pay. The investor has to receive his £<1 os. Bd.; the underwriters, have to receive their £*10,000; and then there are the other smaller charges. The money will cost us dear enough: it will probably cost New Zealand a higher figure per cent, on the cash or value realised (ban has been reached for over '20 years. In due. course the whole hislorv ol I In* I rausaelioii, from the first operations by the ex--I'rinie Aliiiisl-cr, will, we hope, lie fully revealed. At the present time, with the information available, wc see no reason why the present (nlr'/tclr (Joverniiieul can be blamed for anything but rcliceuce, and we j have given them the due ruuroof for

that. Tli'c-y ca.nivM, be, blamed, as a Clovernnreiit,. for the. fact :'aai Wardist methods have made New Zoa land as a !i(i:.rfo\VHr the "softest'' nf

''soft thitigs" fill- ihe I.uihUiu fin an cier.s - tliat Wardist iinance has forced New Zealand, to burrow lingo su'm'.s in bulk (this loan is !-<|uiyt, on n pij]Hil;'.tiii'n basis, to a British loa.-n of £180,000,000, Clio cos!; of. a lug War : i —(hat Waitlist feiar.iv has forced New Zealand into .such it dependences upon the London market tbab ii finds it difficult- to exercise complete freedom to. ch&'os'c. its. time for. gohig there, f'l-vlinj>s, even, tiie zif. Government was n.nab'Sfl to avoid floating this cxl.iemeiy costl.v loan <»■ account of commitments eii.'tered into on behalf' of' the. tenantry. ;pripr to the resignation- tht! es-Priinc .Minister, whi'clij. i.'t- will be remembered, took place towards the very end of the financial Th'ete. is' much in connection, with the loan, that, ti.ie public will v.-;- lit.- to s.efe explained, but its broad lesson should be obyioiis to evcryh&cly, a'ncl that : is, thai- Under the- "\V.un> r'/iime the national finances Kave bec'ii llarrcllecl in flic most reckless' manner.