SOUTH AFRICAN FINANCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9075, 27 April 1908, Page 3

SOUTH AFRICAN FINANCE.

South African finance is at present in rather a bad way. Mr Merriman, the Cape Premier, speaking on March 3, said that the accumulated deficit of that colony of the past four years amounted to £1,900,000, and was likely to increase by £500,000 in 1908. The unpaid railway debt brought the true deficit up to about £3,000,000, a state of things which could not continue. The Government must put the colony's finances in order, and the next session of Parliament would be devoted to the task. Whether it will accomplish the task is another matter. Natal is in greater trouble financially. Her deficits are heavy, her white population small, and she has a debt of over £20,500,000, which has been doubled in the past seven years. The Transvaal also suffers from a deficiency. Then, there is Rhodesia, which i 3 under the rule of the British South African Company, and in area is bigger than the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and Orange River Colony all put together. The British South Africa Company has always had a deficit, yet for many years its shares commanded splendid premiums in the market. Just before the war B.S.A. £1 shares were selling at over £4 to £5, and even in 1903 they were worth over £3. But they averaged'about £l§ in 1906, and went to a slight discount last year. The latest price is 12s 6d, and upon the strength of it the directors want to issue 1,000,000 new shares at par. They give subscribers, therefore, the option for each share now subscribed of taking another share at par up to March, 1910, and yet a third share at the same figure up to March, 1912. The three shares could be bought notv for £1 17s 6d, instead of £3, but these are "options," and people seem to like them. At present the share Capital is £6,00Q,00d, plus £4,250,000 premiums on past issues, and there is £1,250,000 in debentures. Consequently, tl|e new £1,000,000, if subscribed, will mean that the com-pany-has so far absorbed £12,500,000 of money, and is still prepared to be hungry to the extent of another £2,000,000. A day must come when Rhodesia will pass out of the company's hands. It is too big and important to be treated like Sarawak or British North Borneo or the Falkland Islands. When that time comes, how will the B.S.A. Company fare?