Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 31 March 1921, Page 2

An announcement has been made by the I’rime Minister that during his visit to London he will endeavour to arrange for a loan for public works of not mole than £5,000,000, says the “New Zealand Herald.’’ The Inst public flotation of a New Zealand loan in laindon was made in .January, 1914, when £4,500,000 were raised £3,023,400 for expenditure in the Dominion on public works and land settlement, and the balance for the repayment of debentures. The loan carried I per cent interest and was issued at £IOO 10s per cent, the term being ten years. It was over-subscrib-ed, the scrip being immediately afterwards quoted oil tho London Stock Exchange at a premium of 15s per cent. Since then, the Dominion has borrowed £25,840,000 in London, solely for war purposes, the whole amount having been advanced by the Imperial Government. A considerable portion of this debt is renewable af a premium, tli,. total liability being £20,340,245. The interest rate varies from 3-J per cent, for the hirst advance in 191 I to 5 per cent for the Inter advances. When Mr Massey attempts to go on the London market in .June or July he will not find the interest rates so favorable. The Minister has expressed hopes of borrowing in the region of six per cent, Imt tin's is not considered at all likely, and seven per cent is regarded as a probable minimum at present. Mr Massey will b<‘ ill tfie position practical.

l v of taking the money at the best price lie c an make, for the money will be very needful. The Public Works Fund will ; commence the financial year with only ( about a quarter of a million to credit. | Of late the Fund has been subsisting on , temporary borrowing from the consoli- . dated fund. This, cannot be continued, and the money temporarily appropriate ed will require to be refunded as soon i as possible to ease the. circumstances of other Departments and enable the administration of the Dominion to run with comparative smoothness. Of the five millions proposed to he raised at Home, half will be refunded to the consolidated fund, so that actually th ( » amount to be provided for works will be barely sufficient for the full financial, year particularly if there is a call for re-lief-works to meet unemployment. Circumstances have to be taken into account likewise as to the amount the loan will actually realise, after the London charges for flotation are taken into account. The loan will probaln ly add not less than £350,000 to the annual interest charges of the country, so that there is the prospect of the money being abnormally dear. New ‘ Zealand, has done well, nevertheless, to keep off the English money market for so long, and this factor might be of some help to the Minister of Finance in making his terms a little more favourable. But in anv case the negotiations will occasion Mr Massey a good deal of anxiety before the transaction is finally fixed.

!!i:ri itknck was made in a recent issue to the effect that-a metallurgist from Lngland would be spending shortly a few weeks in the Westland district in search for metalliferous ores suitable for a large English manufacturing company. This instances how short our own knowledge is of the mineral deposits of the district. Westlafid is credited with being the location of great mineral wealth. Samples of ores of almost every known kind have been found in this region but little or nothing is known of their location in payable or workable deposits. Yet the country at an annual recurring cost maintains an expensive Geological Department the duty of which should be to glean all possible knowledge as to the deposits. It remains for private enterprise to do this work— and one wonders wlmt is the real value of the Department as a factor in promoting and assisting to development our mineral wealth. With the great slump in wool, meats and stock, a mineral yield would be of particular value to the Dominion just now, but we know that the mining industry of the Dominion has been allowed lo dwindle away, even through the prospering times when Lie re was money to burn, so to speak, judging by the extravagance of some Departments. The Alines Department for instance sent of} one of its officers for a trip of experience to the United States, and now u lieu he fins returned, stored with information gleaned at the expens,, of this country, he retires from the Department and takes up private employment. There is .something wrong when these things happen so, and the country is the milch cow for the expense all the time. Yet whil ( , this comedy is proceeding, the same Department turns down |)respecting applications and adopts a negative policy in any direction to further the expansion of mining. There is about to bo a change of Ministers in charge—either temporary or permanently. Mr Anderson is to wear the Premier's mantle as Minister of Mines. The Department sadly lacks a “live’’ Minister at the head of affairs, someone with a progressive milling policy to shake up the dry bones, and put life into an industry which is calculated to bring returning prosperity to the Dominion quicker than any other field of development.