BRITISH FINANCE

Hokitika Guardian, 3 November 1932, Page 5

BRITISH FINANCE

LOAN CONVERSION

300 MILLION AT3 PER CENT AT 97*

(British Official Wireless )

[RUUffT, November 2,

It is announced that the British Treasury, on February Ist, will repay the bondholders the .principal of the unconverted outstanding balance;-; amounting to £114,000,00® of the 5 phi* cent. Treasury-bonds, 1933-1935, • of which ■the remainder, was recently' I ‘converted to 3J- per cent, stock. ■ Mr Neville Chamberlain ‘ stated, in the Commons to-duy, that the cost of the oash. bonus and commission in the recent 5 per cent, war loan'"Conversion operation was about £23,000', 000. j The prospectus of - the new conversion loan has been issued by the Treasury. It states that the Bank'Of England is authorised tofeareceive applications for £300,000,000 sat £3 per cent. The Conversion Loan is redeemable at par on March Ist, 1953, or at any time on after March Ist ; 1948. The is-ue prioe will be £97 10s per cent. The list of applications will; be opened, and will be closed on Thursday, November 3rd, 1932, Interest, will be paid half yearly* on March Ist find September Ist,. The; first payment ‘will be made on MaroH . lsti. 1933,/. ; The' Postmaster-General Tg authorised to receive applications lot ’a separate issue of the 300 million 3 per cent, loan at £97 10s. Allotments-in full will be made in respect 0f..a1l of the subscriptions to the Post -Office' issue, the dividends of . which will be paid without deductions '.of„ tax- at v the • source. Applications for the Pest Office issue may be for £lO or any multiple, not exceeding £IOOO, and first interest payment will be made oil March Ist. The latest loan issues ■ mark the completion /of the Government’s conversions that are available at present. No fresh opportunity will -be available until 1934, when £156,000,000 worth of Treasury Bonds will mature. Budgeta-ry saving by- the latest conversion will "be - approximately £5,500,000. ■ Kdw hfffi./ ■

The total savings by the series of conversions to dateffi after allowing for the reductions in' th© income tax receipts, will be about thirty millions.

'•FINANCIAL,. TIMES” COMMENT.

, LONDON, November 2. Regarding the new loan v the ,“Fin-

ancial Times” comments: “The terms are rather- favourablej.>to,.tho investor. The j Government could have borrowed at a flathQf wtbree' psr. cent; ,Jt Is well to recall -the tremendous., change for th© ‘better, wrought by the National Government in a year. No country, on

or off, gold standarSy;.has brought I about anything approaching . the revival witnessed, in 'Britain,; The ' foreigner still occasionally;; hesitates over sterling, Specially U - this so. when ™ euch incidents as the hunger marching are magnified beyond all relation to the facts. Here, we. know, the real strength of the country.”,

INCREASED PRIVATE LOANS.

RUGBY, November - 1

According to statistics compiled by the Midland Bank, new capital issues for the last month, excluding all borrowings by the British Government for purely financial purposes,, amounts to '.£19,745,000, against £2,483,000 fpr the same month last year, making a total for the ten months tp, ■ October 31st, 1932, 0f'£97,919,000, again?t £81,565,000 for the corresponding; ten,, monthey of 1931. '-\w3a‘ Th© ‘Stock Exchange. will observe

November Ist, as a holiday