NEW ZEALAND'S LOANS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 52

NEW ZEALAND'S LOANS.

' ' ATTACK ON THE DOMINION, I, MINISTER oITiINANCE IN EXPLANATION., WELLINGTON, January lit. In reference "to an attack on the- New Zealand Budget by the .Investors' Review, which' wants to know where ' New Zealand is going to' raise the £2,216,000 required for ■ public* .works, arid, says it -cannot be gofc. in London,, the- Prime Minister' points ous that- it was- fully explained -at the .time that; "only a- million of~thia was required by way -of loan.- The rest ie in hand or will be transferred ; from ..the Consolidated! Fund. The- sons-ok £800, 000, comes -from^the latter, and Sir Joseph .says that' the - financial results -of the year -so- "far prove that the -Government will be more than, able to --make -the- transfer v "•" , - Thex following are the( -terms of the_ attack in the "Investors' Review:— "How is New -Zealand .going to raise £2,216,000 which-the Government, proposes to ex-end on public works during the current financial "year? This is" to include £1,125,000 on the-rail-ways, and most "of -that money, "as we have "frequent^ insisted, is applied in keeping lip appearances. Without it" working ex- - penses would have to eat much more severely into the gross revenue. But where, is the money to come .from? The savings banks of the colony cannot furnish it all, nor yet its other banks, noT the insurance department. It cannot "be found in -London either, for there wall be no money here tolend to any colony for a good' many months to come.- Would it not have been" better for the colony and its Government if facts . and portents had Keen -recognised and expenditure cut down in time? < To gc on^ regardless of consequences is to invite irretrievable disaster." ~—J ".