WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 September 1924, Page 1

WELLINGTON NOTES.

.MONEY EOM .MORTGAGES

(Special to “Guardian”.)

WELLINGTON, Sept. I. It is generally agreed in responsible business circles here that Mr -Massey has got himself and’the Advances Office into a financial tangle. The of lice wants money, more money and still more money and this the Finance Minister cannot supply, but be hopes to hl'iiT the public which lie will liud a very diiTieult matter. Fatly ill the year lie stilted that (here would lie plenty of money available for the department and out of the loan of Ih'i.OtlllJLT.') (loafed in April last the bulk of it. a limit L‘3,(!!)(),(toil, was assigned to the Advances Department. Subsequently a further million was raised in Louden by the side of debentures, and now Treasury Mills are to be issued in lu.ndon for a million and a half, making in all !_'7.oilo.iltio borrowed inside of six months. It is obvious that the issue of Treasury Mills will not be elicited at the low rate of interest obtained for the earlier loans, and this together with the exchange cost, ha- compelled Mr Miissey to announce that borrowers would have to pay oj per tent, and in the opinion of many financiers subsequent borrowers from the department would have to pay more. In fact it is anticipated that tin* Advances Office will ultimately have to how to tile law of supply and demand, TDK EXCHANGE I’HOMLKM. About matters of exchange the Prime Minister also shows a disposition to bluff. He is reported to have said that the (loveruuieiit lias bail nil oiler to do the exchange business at 1 per cent less than the fixed rate ol the banks. He also intimated that a proposal with respect to exchanges was under consideration and referred to the Egyptian system in respect to financing cotton, and remarked that wli.-it Egypt could do they could do. Milt the circttmstances and conditions were not parallel. A plan, indeed several plans, for casino or solving the exchange problem have been put forward, notably the one suggested by Mr Darling. a director of one of the lar*;e London Hanks. He suggested the issue of Empire Currency Mills hv all the Dominions and went into elaborate details, but (he scheme, after careful consideration by the experts at tin l last Imperial Conference, was turned down. Willi respect to the Egyptian scheme that consists merely of the issue of linanee . hills against e. Hon shipments. Prior to the war linanee hills w.-rc issued in connection wit]i the shipments id wheat and cotton from the Lnited Stales. The exchange problem will be unsolved until gold functions attain as the standard of value and is freely exportable Mom one country to another, or until the Covrrnment s and local bodies ol Australia and New Zealand cease burrowill;' in tlie I.ondon Iliai ket. CILT-F.DCKD SECTIIPITE>.

An out standing lealille ol the inve-t----metit marl.el i- the I'ael that investors

appear to have gili •edged -.-. unties. Dinin'. I lie til-t half of Ihe ~-ar t i.ivei nil'.-in slink- and bonds Oi all .leiiominMi ions mm.l varying ,urI-,., u .|v io Motive demand and I.- . wci"• I reqiletil and of some V.. - Mee.-ii l lv a lack el iuter.-l Inis 1.c,0i -I,own in' such securities and h-I Meek on one day I here Mas a single "II, ,| notation for Covenini"..; •I'M I . and ,1 I- son;, de.\ s.n. a *"' ~ , .'.oi d."L All'll It. r sink,l.

the absence ol interest in local bodies’ del,"i.i tires. A fe« months ayo ll," Well inyl on City C.aineil placed a |~f , |,-lien 11l res lor a siibstailli.il amount ~n the mat hot and these ■■• old I - ,- a,lily. but Die ily Cniiii, il is huviny a dill','rent experieu,iu-l now. 'I be lit v pla, id oil the mark,-I I loans and the I'.’i.'plioii aeeorded Diem iverv disapiiointiny. I hits lor the loan ~f HI investor, have subscribed sa far L"_’ '.,(!<»> ; for the Unit Hoad loan CIO.(HI) Wits wanted and L' I,. !_’(lt I lias subscribed : for the Milk Supply Department L'-VJ.IMIB wa. asked amt ~ii|v ,0011 subscribed and lor the Miramar Marine Iho'ade loan of L'i.oOO oiilv LTOII has been tendered. Thu- it will li" xi'eii that the City (A hi mi 1 asked for a total of L'l'-M.'iOU

~,,d il ,• a nut tend rod up to l lie end of |a-l Meek was only L'lS.'.MO. It is evident that investors are heiny attracted in other directions or else there are not the savinys available Hr investment to the extent wanted.