rate of expenses on the 1893 Queensland loan is accounted for partly by the fact that the amount was underwritten at the rate of 1 per cent. The latest loans issued by all the States and New Zealand have also been burdened with a charge for underwriting.

QUOTATIONS OF STOCK.

In another chapter the growth of Australasian indebtedness on private account has been traced over a period of about thirty-one years, and it has been shown that during that time nearly the whole of the advances made to the various State Governments, and nearly one hundred and eight millions of private advances, have been obtained in Great Britain. This condition of dependence on external capital for the development of the country has on more than one occasion proved a great danger to Australasia, but never to the same extent as during the crisis of 1892-93, when the withdrawal of confidence on the part of the British investor caused widespread confusion in almost every department of industry, and intense financial unrest, from which some of the states have not yet recovered, although, as will be seen from the appended table, Australasian stocks are now quoted at satisfactory prices.

The quotations for Colonial stocks in the London markets at the close of June, 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1902 are given below, the price in every instance being "cum dividend." With one exception-India— the quotations are for loans raised on the security of the local revenues of the country borrowing; in the case of India there is an Imperial guarantee. This advantage has also been extended to some Canadian, Mauritius, and New Zealand loans, but these are not quoted in the following list. In passing, it may be mentioned that the guarantee of the British Government is certainly to the advantage of the dependencies to which it has been extended, as in addition to the absolute security afforded, it carries the right of trustees in the United Kingdom to invest trust funds in the stock- -a privilege which was not extended to Australasian securities till September, 1901:—

In order to make the comparison between different stocks quite fair, other things than bare quotations on a given date-chiefly the accrued interest and the unexpired currency of the scrip-have to be considered. A uniform date for the payment of interest on loans has not been adopted, so that the amount of interest accrued at the abovequoted dates varies with each loan; while the date on which the loan is repayable is a factor not to be neglected in estimating the price of a stock. The return obtained by investors from the inscribed stock of each colony on the basis of previous quotations, allowing for interest accrued and redemption at par on maturity, is given below:

The figures given in the last column of the table show the relative positions of the various stocks quoted. As will be seen, the credit of each division of Australasia was somewhat better in 1894 than in 1892, notwithstanding the financial panic which occurred between

those dates. In 1893 there was naturally a heavy fall, as compared with the preceding year, in all Australasian securities except those of New Zealand and Western Australia. Victorian stock showed the largest fall-which was only to be expected in view of the fact that the panic originated in that state, and Victorian finances generally were at a low ebb. The quotation for New Zealand stock at the middle of 1893 was the same as that of the preceding year, which seemed to point to the conclusion that the London market did not consider the interests of New Zealand to be bound up with those of the states on the mainland. In 1895 a great improvement took place in the prices of stock of all the states, and the rise has since been well maintained. illustrate the fluctuations in the prices of colonial securities, the rates obtained during 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1902 are given below in a simpler form than in the preceding table. During the same periods British consols were selling at 981, 97, 99, and 961⁄2 :

:

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So far, only the return yielded to the investor has been considered. The following table shows the average prices obtained by the Australasian Governments for some of their last issues, and the quotations for

the same stocks in June, 1902, the latter prices being, of course, "ex dividend

:

By far the larger part of Australasian loans is inscribed, and the outstanding issues under the debenture system are being converted into inscribed stock as quickly as circumstances permit. New Zealand was the first colony to introduce inscription in 1877, in which year was passed the Consolidated Stock Act, a measure made necessary by the abolition of the Provincial Councils. Under this Act the liabilities of the various provinces were merged into the general debt of the colony; and under the same Act and its amendment of 1884 the Government has worked systematically to consolidate the debt by conversion and inscription, so that in March, 1902, the whole of the public liabilities were inscribed, with the exception of £9,153,697 represented by debentures. The Consolidated Stock Act of New Zealand was assented to in December, 1877; and in August of that year the Imperial Parliament passed the Colonial Stock Act, which provided for the inscription and transfer of Colonial stock raised in the United Kingdom. Certain steps were required to be taken before a colony could take advantage of