The colony of New Zealand was hungry for money and London was the place to raise it. In 1867 the colony offered £500,000 worth of debentures – the balance of a £3 million loan which had been authorised in 1863. The colony’s representative in London reported to Wellington that the offer had been over-subscribed. He said ‘it affords me much satisfaction to state that although the price of issue was fixed … at one hundred and two a quarter for each one hundred pounds debenture – the amount applied for at and above the minimum was two millions four hundred and thirty three thousand pounds … it is also cause for satisfaction that Messrs Rothschilds took a portion amounting to four hundred and sixty four thousands and two hundred pounds, as being indicative of their opinion of the value of the New Zealand government debentures – this circumstance, at a time when so much distrust exists, is likely to have a beneficial effect.’