THE LATEST LOAN.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1885, 20 October 1913, Page 6

THE LATEST LOAN.

The three and a half million loan which has just been successfully raised by- the Massey Government is required to meet one of those little legacies left it and the country by the Continuous Ministry. Tho money is needed to pay off debentures issued for a short term by the predecessors in office of the present Government. Unfortunately for the country these short-dated loans cannot be relied on to fall duo when monoy is plenti- . ful and investors eager to buy colonial securities, and tho result is sometimos embarrassing. The Minister of Finance seems to have done very well in the circumstances in i getting this particular loan under- ! written at the price. The fact that , the underwriters havo been left with | . so larjre a. proportion of the stock j on their hands is partly explained i this morning by a cablegram which will be found elsewhero, showing ■ that a proportion of the underwrit- i ing is done by investors who take ■ this means of securing their stock i at a discount, which is rendered possible by their participation in ■ the underwriting fee. While, how- : ever, it is satisfactory to note that 1 the Minister has been ablo to raise ! this money required to pay off a ! portion of tho short-dated borrowings of tho Continuous Ministry, tho ] fact cannot bo ignored that the necessity these short-dated loans impose on tho country of going bo frequently to the London ' money market must prejudice our prospects for loans for current requirements. There aro further large short-dated loans coming due, and these have to be provided for as well as tho borrowing that is necessary to meet , the needs of the country for public i works and other purposes. It will t be some time before the ill effects of ; the financial methods of the Con- 1 tinuous Ministry are thrown off by e the Dominion. i i 1 I