The Daily News. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1903. THE NEW ZEALAND LOAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 48, 24 February 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1903. THE NEW ZEALAND LOAN.

The failure of the public in London to subscribe for the new loan is exceedingly disappointing, and will give an j opportunity to the opponents of the! Government for adverse criticism, 6?o! far in is very pleasing to notice that! the comments of the Opposition prase • have been very mild. This ia us it! should be, because there is no doubt! but that tha public at Home have be -n ! influenced by altogether unforsnen I reasons, and is not due to any cause j which would justify the Premier, the! Government, or the liberal Parly being j credited with the rebuff. When we! decided to go on tha market, the best! London financial experts assured us ot.l! succes?, and it is not likely the under-'! i writers would have underwritten ifi they had no, also felt very sure of their j < position. Our neighbours' inisfortsna j and Mr Wilson's vindictive and un-i: warranted attack on Australian finance, I' which was published after our nu-'j nouncement of the loan, must have!] demoralised investors, as no discrimi- • ! nation is shown by the public as be-1' tweon Australia and New Zealand. ;| The geographical and other ignorance i < of the British investors is much to be j' regretted, and for the present they: 1 have, so to speak, cut the financial!, painter, and done a grave injustice to ' ', our colony, evea in taking it for granted!' that the finance of Australia mayj not, owing to the drought and other' c causes, be as bright as oae could wish.! ; Locking back a short time when ad- i c Ivcrsity overtook the Mother Country, l the colonists did not turn their b;ek' " or shrink from facing difficulties, but J when a slight adversity has overtaken j Australia, the cause being the drought, i uucontrelable by man, is such an oc-' r c«ion to be t*ken as the opportunity t for Mr Wilson's cold blooded and un- : ' patriotic attack ; yet its favourable re- j " caption by the financiers, and by a' ; l .sejtion of the British press, giv ( . s one I fo:id for reflection, and will no doubt) hasten tho determination of the cobny | of New Zealand to ba self contained in ' t finance, as ia other matters. Suteil Bank advocates have he; e a splendid'" opening, but to taku ndvant-ige of'J, Australia's drought stricken condition : c as the opportunity to bear its'g stock and to give New Wind 1 8 a robufl' will nob further that' 0 closer relationship which all true * lovers of the Empire would like to sea. Ie The financial position of this colony h and its credit will seriously sutler bo- sl ■ ause the over sensitive British in- w _ve3tor has got alarmed, or perhaps sees! in Kussian, German or French loans' the opportunity to make a few more g pounds. Had New Zealand offered its w loan at ninety-two or ninety-three tho B aii.rm of the invastor would have boon " mollified but tho Premier and Govern- B m<ss,t ivcro right infixing the pi ice of & iiinotj-four ten. The New Zealand !u lue-e per c<;ats being at the time' M ninety-five t en. Our loan w as ofl'e>. Ed I J l ,' it a fair price, but the British investor,! a f except to a limited extent, has refused! u, to bo our customer and so tha matter j f,i ' stand--', but the colony's fi- --nee is un-j ar altered, there willba the uau..i bui plus,' the underwriters will unload in due bn

course, perbaps some of tho British investors who hold New Zealand stock may get lower prices for a few weeks, having helped to biing about this result by refraining to meet our requirements. They know their business bes' and must sot complain. To " boar " stocks is not an uncommon occunvnee and cuts miny ways. In respect to the last Victoiiun lo<in, the pub-lie subscription was relatively worse than that which bus attended oupresent loan, but lack of subscription, nlth, ugh much regretted, does not| all'tct the result, seeicg that New Ze.laod gets its money. Comparing the present price of Australasim stocks, New Zeihnd suff. va least by a long way, which indicates that underwriters aie not likely to be loaded very long. The idea ef the Opposition prase, and which has been duly paraded, that the net result of tho loan will yield under ninety-one is absurd, and shows gross ignorance of the true position, or is otherwise a deliberate attempt to belittle tha colony's finance and to help Mr Wilson to further misrepresent us. The charges for this loan are no moro : than we gave for our last loan, which yield'-d .£9l 4s, at tha issue price of ninety four pounds. O-ir present loan is issued at £%i 10s, and it, therefore, should yiald at least ,£9l 14s. Fu.ally \ it has always been the Colonial ' Treasurer's policy to have an assured finance, running no lisks, no trusting, to Providence. The opening offered, ! the experts advised the tima was oppDr-: tune, th.9 underwriters were williug, and the loan was pheed on the tna>kat, but circumstances ovar which Nev Zjoland had no control, and which the j ! ablest financiers in L mdon did no'; ■ fore3te, arose and asmall public subf crip-; tion eventuated. The Oolouial Tie s- j uror could no doubt havo made satis-; factory toaipoiary financial airing- J • merits, but acing on London advicoj preferred to float a loan so as to m ike j cwitain of funds. There werathosol who hid begun to say that owing to the Government skiing debentures over the coun'or, that m ney was hardening in t'ia colony, but the real c»u;e of ■tionoy bardt ning was, to sumo exttii*, tiie withdrawal of money from ' New Zealand for Australia, but that' ' fact was kept in the backgrcund. Altogether Mr Saddou and tho colony arn to he congratulated that money had been obtained on satisfactory terms, our finances are assured, and cur public works will proceed. We shall, it is hoped, h»ive a bountiful harves 1- , and 1 underwriters will unload in time. The a'tuck on Australian finance will prov« ' as unwarranted as the "bearing" of colonial stocks will prove unwise.