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Hokitika Guardian, 5 June 1926, Page 2

There is a good deal of reason for Premier Coates to take credit fur the success of the flotation of the New Zealand loan. It is a very gratifying result in which all will feel a sense of pleasure. Mr Coates was not able to plume, himself to the same degree when the previous loan was floated. It did not “go off” so well. ’The terms of course were not so attractive, nor was it as well stage-managed as the present effort. Publicity counts a very great deal these times, and New Zealand was steadily working lip for the flotation which has been forecasted and well-boomed for some time. The national strike and .general upheaval at Home have delayed the dotation, but the result proves that a very opportune moment was selected, and the most made-'of the fact that the Dominion was first in the field, following the financial uncertainty arising out of the strike. New Zealand is one of the safest of the oversea Dominions, in that there fife less signs of reaction hero than in any other part of the Empire. The loyalty of the country lias been kept well to the fore, and loyalty pays at all times, for it affords national security. The loan tilings home the fact that money is become dearer. “Cheap” borrowing is now a memory of the past. The present loan is costing 5J per cent. The previous loan was under five per cent. At the higher price it should he easier to borrow more money in the country, which is a useful phase of self-reliance. But there is an economic limit even to the curtailment of that practice, however inclined we may be to 1<? very virtuous about borrowing. The country needs considerable sums of money to carry on the large developmental works which are in hand. These works must of necessity l«e carried to the point of fullest utility as quickly as possible, and for that reason borrowing is inevitable. The credit of the country stands well, but that docs not mean ceasing effort to manage economically or administer indifferently. Rather, with the added burdens these loans create in the way of interest payments and redemption propoasls, does it mean the necessity lor more economy and more efficient administration. That is the chief task of the Government to-dav. and a policy to that end should be enunciated in the coming session of Parliament. The loan will make finance easier in the country for the time being, but there is the immediate future with its necessities to care for, and the financial situation will lie always a matter for very serious concern.