508
1
12
have accrued in the Sinking Fund for the previous issue of Stock would enable the debt of the Colony to be reduced in 1918 from about £1,500,000 to about £700,000 by means of a conversion operation or by the issue of a new loan as the circumstances of the case may prove to be desirable when the time arrives.
8. Having thus explained the grounds on which we arrived at the conclusion that the new Loan must be issued in the shape of Stock: that it must be issued at once and that it would be desirable to issue it as an addition to the existing line of Stock I now proceed to report the actual action taken in the matter. I enclose herewith 12 copies of the prospectus which we issued on the 14th instant inviting tenders for the Loan to be sent in on the 20th instant. I also enclose a schedule of the tenders received which will show that the Loan has been fully covered and that Stock to the extent of £1,142,500 has been allotted, which we estimate will provide approximately the sum of £1,100,000 together with the expenses of issue. The schedule also shows that the average price realised for the Loan has been £99. 1. 0 per cent.
9. The expenses of the issue, full details of which will be subsequently given in the Loan accounts which we shall furnish to the Colony monthly, may be taken to be approximately as follows viz.
• per cent commission to the Crown Agents for their services in issuing the Loan, out of which 1 per cent is payable by them on all tenders received through members of the Stock Exchange or from Bankers or the principal Financial Houses.
1 per cent underwriting commission to the members of the Stock Exchange and to the Financial Houses who guaranteed