SALE OF WELLINGTON DEBENTURES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 54, 3 February 1872, Page 12

SALE OF WELLINGTON DEBENTURES.

Ti-te recent sale at Sydney of tlie debentures issued under the Wellington Debts Act of last session is a most important indication of the high credit which New Zealand securities enjoy. At the time we announced the success of Mr Vogel’s operations in this matter we were under the impression that the debentures had been floated at the maximum rate of interest allowed by the act—six per cent., but we fiud that the sale was unusually profitable, the debentures having been negotiated by the Colonial Treasurer at a rate of interest not exceeding five per cent., without any accrued interest or allowance whatever. The price obtained —£102 —is quite equal to the quotations in London of the colonial five per cents., a circumstance which indicates two things : one, that there is a large amount of surplus capital seeking investment in the neighboring colonies : and that the policy of the present Government of this colony is such as to ensure confidence in lenders. After all this is the crucial test. It has been too much the habit in New Zealand to deci’y ourselves —to preach aloud that our resources do not warrant the hold and confident policy upon which the colony has embarked ; and that if we could only see ourselves as others see us, we should adopt a more cautious and timorous course of action. Well, we now have an opportunity of judging in what light our doings are regarded by our neighbors, and surely we could have no better test than asking them to lend us money. Capitalists are not usually possessed of a too-gushing sympathy with borrowers. If they unbutton their breeches pockets they only do so with the full knowledge of the risks they may run, and they charge for their accommodation accordingly. Now, the purchasers of the debentures just sold by Mr Vogel would certainly not have parted with their money—and paid actually a considerable premium for being allowed to do so—unless they were fully assured of the stability of the security and the policy of the borrowing Government. That they have felt this assurance is manifested by the terms of this transaction. Mr Vogel has been able to command a premium of two per cent for a five per cent loan—and this not in the plethoric market of London, but in the comparatively limited financial sphere of Sydney. No further comment is necessary.