LOCAL BODY LOANS.

Matamata Record, Volume VI, Issue 440, 28 May 1923, Page 3

LOCAL BODY LOANS.

DOMINION MONEY TOO y DEAR. London Rate Wanted. Pooling Scheme Suggested. That the time had come when local bodies should take steps to get cheaper money when borrowing, especially for road metalling, was the burden of an emphatic stand taken by Cr K. S. Cox (Tokoroa riding) at last Wednesday’s meeting of the Matamata County Council. The matter arose in regard to the raising ot the £IO,OOO to comprise the PutaruruTnVofrofl. roads loan. The cleric, Mr. H/*rawis, submitted correspondence showing that the £4500, as the first ■ v portion of this loan, which the Coun- . cil at its previous meeting had de- „ cided to accept from a private lendev. ' at the rate of six per cent., had been placed meanwhile with the Avondale Borough Council, and the best oflei the clerk had since been able to obtain as-the result of inquiry from a considerable number of sources was £IO,OOO at 63 per cent. Cr. Cox said he considered this iat<? too high. Money was readily available in; London at a much cheapei he was informed by a leading Anancier, and to take advantage of he would recommend that the cleric ascertain what other local bodies wanted loans, with a view to ' pooling their requirements and raising a comprehensive loan for all on the London market. The sum .of £IOO,OOO would he sufficiently large, he considered, to induce investors to subscribe, but £IO,OOO had aheadv been rejected as too ( small. _ In thi. •v(rav the money should be obtained at an 'interest rate not exceeding 4 J per cent., and also it would mean that th local bodies would not be competing for the money available m this country. which was mostly needed urgently bv the farmers. , . .. ' Crs W. F. Allen COkoroire ridim?' and E -T. Dorbv (Putaruru rulina) commended this latter aspect as an important incidental one. • Cr. J. Pohlen (Matamata ridmnrl and the- oWk pointed out. that the present £SOOO maximum which a locn hodv was permitted to borrow tio the State Advances Department each vear was totally inadequate, this the only 4S « *mf. SnllaW. at present to local Cr Pohlen suenrested that. Cr. Co' nbiect misrht be met bv inducing tV Department, to borrow an adequate «». toWould not involve any additional tax on the taxpayers as the ratepayers requiring the monev would nav for it S Pohlen added that his ridnm would ’ doubtless shortly require S.OOO to £30,000 to extend its metal(Te Poi ri dimr) remarked that to.. reject,all,tjig money _ nW offering in favour of putting Ci. Cox’s suggestion into operation would starting the metalline 3 the Putaruru-Tokoroa roods scheme, it having been virtually deat the previous meeting of th. Council to accept enough money Coun „. tn a ii P w the rock to be rSd th» winter for the foundation so that the metal could be put down without delay next summer. P To avoid any such delav it was reon the motion of Crs. Cox and lonpyl on py offering at 53 per cent., 2j it was unanimously agreed to «ond 1 remit to the Counties Assocm«?n conference, reported to he geper«llv held in August, that the AssociaS take Steps to pool the counties’ fop requirements with a view to ' vafsing comprehensive loans from outthe Dominion at Oman rates of V^S r( !i: to meet these requirements snte-ej& alternative ensure that the Department undertakes this work. / putarußu-tokoroa MONEY. Reverting to the Putaruru-Tokoroa i the clerk stated that, with the Joan the cie™ cent) next year’s £SOOO « ■ jggQQO from the State V SgSafffWAV s ) »'■ tes i j^ssiblc.