THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DKIIT. 



313 



so closely the same that a single table ("Table A") has been 

 made of the two. In this are given the yields on all the more 

 important issues made by these Colonies (excluding Treasury 

 bills). For comparison the contemporary yield on Consols is 

 given. This is not perfect, as a guide to the international rate 

 of interest, but it is the best obtainable at present. The final 

 column shows how much more the Colonies paid than Consols 

 were yielding at the time, and is a guide to the credit of those 

 Colonic-. Fig. 1 is drawn from these numbers. It will be seen 

 that the Colonies improved in credit (with one set-back about 



I860 



1870 



1JSS0 



18S0 



1900 



1910 



6-5 



(•! 



5-0 



4-5 <£ 



4 



3-5 % 



30 % 



20 % 



Cape. 



© N/a-fnl 



Consols. 



1883 ) until 1888, since when there has been no noticeable change. 

 For the last twenty years Cape Colony and Xatal have paid an 

 average of 0.80 per cent, more than the yield on Consols. (In 

 this calculation short loans have been omitted, as misleading.) 

 This is not quite an accurate test, because the British Government 

 has been repaying debt for the most part ; if it came to borrow no 

 doubt Consols would fall in price, and their yield rise. As evi- 

 dence of this may be taken the Transvaal loans guaranteed by 

 Britain. These were issued in 1903 and 1909 at rates 0.25 and 

 O.15 higher than the current yield on Consols. Taking the mean 

 0.2 and deducting from the figure given above, we may perhaps 



