LOCAL BODY LOANS

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 252, 26 October 1942, Page 3

LOCAL BODY LOANS

EXPANSION BY HOSPITALS. Activities of the Local Government Loans Board for the year ended March 31, 1942, are reviewed in the annual report of the board presented in the House of Representatives. It states that during the year the board considered applications from local authorities to borrow sums totalling £4,589,653. Of this sum £2,576,050 represented new applications, and the balance of £2,013,603 represented amounts which had previously been referred back or declined. The report states that of the total amount considered the board sanctioned the raising of loans totalling £1,898,096 for new works and £1,391,728 for the redemption of existing loans. The balance of £1,299,829 was referred back for various reasons. The applications for sanetions to new

loans showed a net decrease of £811,409 over the figure for the previous year. Borrowing for hospitai purposes continued at a high figure, and indicated the degree of expansion in building for hospitai services. , Tables in the report show that the gross local body debt of the Dominion now amounts to £67,974,687. Of this sum £55,883,451 is domiciled in New Zealand, £9,893,025 in London and £2,198,211 in Australia. The report states that the extraordinary conditions arising out of the war have efTected a curtailment in local authority activities in many directions, and this is noticeable in the sphere of works requiring loan moneys as evidenced by the reduced number and value of applications for sanction to borrow submitted to the board.