THE NEW REGIME.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1523, 20 August 1912, Page 7

THE NEW REGIME.

LAND AND FINANCE, INTERESTING LETTER FROM LONDON. (By Telcsraph.—Special Correspondent.) Christchurch, August 19. Tho "Press" have received from a, New Xealamlor in Ixiiidan an intending lctlur, of which tin; following are extracts: "In common with many other 'New 'A-a-landers in this country, I w«s highly delighted oil Friday hi-t l:i see in the 'Times , a cable to the, ell'pct Hint Mr. Jlassey's party had defeated the Oovcrnluent Ijy a reasonable, majority, and Ihul Mr. Masscy luul been sent for by the Governor and entrusted with the Lisk- ol i'oi'iniiig a Ministry. I ;.iucerely hope that, ho may be al>l<.> to get a strong (ioveniuioiil together, and (hat his term of ollice may bo a long one. At (his distance I am of course- Mjinewbat mil of touch with New Zealand affairs. Then) are, however, two points which .stood out prominently •to an onlooker from <>. distance. The first is linaiice and tho next liind. With regard to finance, all prudent financiers in London are shaking their heads over New Zealand. It is commonly asserted in the city that in 1911 Now Zealand has eight million sterling of loans maturing, and it is felt generally that the Dominion is simply gambling when it allows liabilities to siicli enormous amounts to mature. in one year. Had the credit of New Zealand been at all good, or had prudent financiers confidence that she. was ablo limler nil circumstances to meet her liabilities iu 19U, tho short-dated loan recently issued, and which yielded nearly 5 por cent, to tho underwriting investor, would have been simply rushed for by flic London banks. So far from this being tho case, sneaking generally, tho bwiks refused to look at the loan, with thn result that tho underwriters wero saddled with 70 pr • cent. ■of tho issue. No nioro deplorable evidence of the extent to which New Zealand credit has depreciated could havo bceri asked for by New Zealand's worst enemies. After an orgy of extravagance, such as lias been recently indulged in, when borrowed money has been poured out at tho rate of fivo millions per year, it will bo difficult for Mr. Massey to inaugurate a. system of living anyivhe.ro near his income, and an attempt to do so will, I am afraid, mako his Ministry unpopular in consequence. "With regard to land it has always seemed to mo that tho policy of locking up tho waste lands of tho colony, in tho North Island especially, and refusing to allow them to l>o occupied on any terms whatever, has been an absolutely suicidal one, and must have had a most disastrous effect on tho progress of the Dominion. Of course, ,1 quite understand that with her limited territory NeAv Zealand cannot afford to carry on n land policy at all similar to that which is adopted by tho Canadian Government, but it is a very significant fact that when in Vancouver last month I f6und two New Zealandors had just arrived, one a retired Auckland tradesman, who had gone to Canada to invest his money becauso he could not eoe his way to get a good investment in Now Zealand. ( The other had wasted two years in New Zealand going from one ballot to another without having tho luck to draw n section, and finally, with his small savings greatly depleted, had reluctantly left New Zealand for Canada. AYitli,ninny millions of acres of Government nnd Maori land unoccupied, such a case as this ought to bo impossible. "With regard to tho futuro in Europe the outlook is by no means clear. There is tin absolute consensus of opinion in the London money market that money is likely to remain dear for tho next two years, and especially for tho coming nino months." Tho writer adds that ono significant result of the transport striko ha.? been that at tho beginning of this month tho Now Zealand Shipping Company had no ship, on tho water en route for Now Zealand from London for the first time for forty years. . •