8.—14 a

22

to give them instructions respecting the £200,000 of 3|-per-cent. stock placed in security under my arrangement of last May; and I am now considering the question of how much stock it may be necessary to hold in reserve to provide for the advances which will be wanted when the last debentures of the loan of 1863 are paid off in December. When this point is settled the rest of the stock will be transferred to the Agent-General and Audit officer, and added to the amount of stock now standing in their names. I regret that copies of the actuaries' new tables, referred to in the last part of my letter of 24th July, are not yet ready, but they will go to you by next mail. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. F. D. Bell. Enclosure in No. 20. Sib, — Downing Street, London, 27th July, 1891. I have to inform you that we have sold £15,000 New Zealand 4-per-cent. inscribed stock on account of the Sinking Fund, 1891, for cash, on the 30th instant, as follows : — £ s. d. £15,000 at 104$ .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 15,675 0 0 Brokerage and stamp .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 37 10 6 £15,637 9 6 The above proceeds will be placed on deposit, at call, at the London and Westminster Bank, in the joint names of Sir Penrose G. Julyan and yourself, as requested in your letter of the 29th ultimo. This sale completes the £100,000 authorised to be sold by your letter of the 19th May last. Sir Francis Dillon Bell, K.C.M.G., C.8., I am, &c, Executive Trustee of the Sinking Fund of Loan of 1863. M. F. Ommanney.

No. 21. The Agent-Geneeal to the Peemiee. (No. 1229.) Westminster Chambers, 13, Victoria Street, London, S.W., Sic,— 20th August, 1891. The only alteration in the figures of the conversion given in my last letter of the 7th August, No. 1148, is an addition of £200 to the amount of debentures of the loan of -1860, whereby the aggregate amount converted is increased from £255,900 to £256,100. The figures now stand as follows : — Last Letter. Addition. Total. £ £ £ £ 1. Loan of 1860 ... 73,400 200 ... 73,600 2. Loan of 1863,— March series ... ... ... 42,400 ... 42,400 June series ... ... ... 28,700 ... 28,700 December series ... ... 13,900 ... 13,900 85,000 3. Provincial loans, — Lyttelton and Christchurch ... ... 6,200 Auckland ... ... ... ... ... 11,800 Otago ... ... ... ... ... 23,700 Canterbury ... ... ... ... ... 5,800 Westland ... ... ... ... ... 50,000 Nelson ... ... ... ... ... Nil 97,500 Total ... ... ... £256,100 The Westland scrip debenture for £50,000 was sent in on the 11th instant to the Bank of England with instructions to convert the same, and the stock certificate, showing that £53,750 3-J-per-cent. stock has been inscribed in the names of myself and the Audit officer, has since been received. On the 18th instant the £200 debentures of the loan of 1860, handed to me by the Union Bank of Australia under standing instructions, were sent in to the Bank of England for conversion. On the 21st the Crown Agents pay off £400 more debentures of the June series of the loan of 1863. In my letter above quoted you were informed that questions were still under consideration as to how the £200,000 3|-per-cent. stock, placed last May in security to the Bank of England, should be dealt with, and how much of it should be kept in reserve for further advances, on the supposition of the same process being applied to the December bonds of the 1863 loan as to the bonds already extinguished. All the advances made by the Bank on Conversion Account having been paid off, while only £110,000 out of the £310,000 stock placed in security had been transferred back to the Government, the effect was to leave a large amount of money which had been paid out of the Public Account unrepresented by the transfer of a corresponding amount of stock. Of course, the Public Account had practically been recouped by the moneys received from the Trustees of the Sinking Fund of 1863, but 1 need not remind the Government that the principle carried out all through has been to keep the two things entirely distinct. Upon a computation being made of the additional amount of stock that should now be inscribed for the Government, it appeared that, if about £170,000 more (in round numbers) were added to the £110,000 already inscribed, it would represent the transactions completed up to the present