THE NEW VICTORIAN LOAN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6511, 9 January 1882, Page 5

THE NEW VICTORIAN LOAN.

The European Mail discourses on the projected Victorian loan as follows : The financial statement of Sir Bryan O’Loghlen has attracted more attention at Homo than is usual with Australian balancesheets, from the fact that the now Victorian Premier is anxious to float another loan of £4,000,000 on the English market. The scheme put forward by the Minister is a bold one, and to some extent novel, but it is considered in financial circles at Homo to be very feasible, and if carried out, there is no doubt it would greatly improve the financial condition of the Colony. The same kind of operation which Sir Bryan recommends has been successfully carried out in tho United States; Indeed the policy is one which generally commends itself. Victoria has falling due during tho next three years tho sum of £8,000,000, on which interest is now being paid at 6 per cent. All this money, has been spent on public works, which every year become more valuable. Why should not Victoria, therefore, take advantage of hex present high position, ond of (he existing low rate of interest, and re-adjust this loan, so that it will bear interest in (he future at tho tho rate of not more than 4 per cent. r ihe relief which tho Victorian Government would obtain from the refunding of the £8,000,000 of 6 per cent, debentures at 4 per cent, per annum, instead of 6 per cent, per annum, would not te less than £160,000 annually—a

saving which, if no unforeseen difficulty presents itself, would provide the whole of (he interest on the new 4 per cent loan of £4,000,000. It has been pointed out that already the debt of Victoria is upwards of £20,000,000, but it must bo remembered that this liability is not to be measured by the same rules as the loans which have overwhelmed other countries with ruin. £16,000,000 of this has been invested in railways alone, and as the receipts from these show a progressive increase, it must be admitted (hat the indebtedness of the Colony, so far as regards that important item, has been a most judicious investment. The scheme of Sir Bryan will, of course, bo duly examined in every particular by financiers at Home between this md the end of the current year, but judging from the present tone of the money market, and of the favour in which not only Victoria, but all our Australian Colonies are hold by capitalists at Home, we have not the slightest doubt (hat when the now loan is placed upon the market in the spring of 1882 that it will be readily subscribed for by English investors. We some time ago indicated that the Colonies might now obtain their money at 3k per cent. Perhaps some day one or the other of them may be disposed to try the experiment.