COLONIAL BANK MEETING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1005, 26 July 1883, Page 4

COLONIAL BANK MEETING.

The eighteenth half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of the Colonial Bank of New Zealand was held yesterday afternoon. Mr E. B. Cargill (Chairman of Directors) occupied the chair, and about thirty shareholders were present. The report, a summary of which has been previously telegraphed, recommended a dividend at the rate of 7 per cent.

The Chairman, in moving the adoption ; of-the report and balance-sheet, said that the past half-year had proved of a somewhat mixed character, as recommercial and financial prosperity. It opened with much promise* .They had the prospect of a very large and splendid harvest through-ou'li-the wheat-growing part of the colony, and everything looked in favor ofa’cbnsiderable revival of prosperity. StiUithey all knew that there had been a good deal of disappointment. There

bad been a large * depreciation of the crops in this part of New Zealand, par- ' ticularly in South Canterbury and the north part of Otago, and the consequence had been some degress of pressure and dullness, which had affected monetary interests considerably. He was happy to say that the affairs of the Bank had been brought through it with a -very fair amount of success. Of course, in times like this, a Bank could to escape without occasion-

ally .being involved in failures, but out of IjliC ; ,business which had been done the Directors had been able to make fullr provision for every loss, and to lay before the shareholders a statement of profit which might on the whole be considered fairly satisfactory. At the general meeting .their Chairman expressed a hop: that they had reached a turning point, and that they might fairly expect to show a larger scale of profits than .that of last half-year. It might on that ground seem a little disappointing that there was no increase,.but it must.be remembered that the half-year ending June was never so satisfactory as the one ending December. It would be seen from the balance-sheet that there had been a considerable increase in the volume of thef^Bank ? s transactions. There had been a large increase in the amount of deposits* and also in the amount of accommodation which the Bank had been"able to offer in its advances. Notwithstandiug the bad state of the money market, the. Bank had not in any,.pase put anything like pressure updb its customers in legitimate business. One thing he might refer to in partial -explanation of the absence of an increase pj profit was the competition whlCli had gone on in all Banking matters lately. He might mention that the securities of the Bank were thoroughly sound. None were held at a higher value than that which might fairly be set- upon them. The whole result of jthe operations was not at all unsatisfactory. Mr Hallenstein seconded the motion. In the present state of matters they must be satisfied with the balancesheet- "No doubt things would be more satisfactory next half-year. The , motion was carried unanimously. In answer to a question put by Mr James Smith, The Chairman said that all securities held by the Bank were subjected to repeated valuations by the best valuators.

Mr Edmund Smith quoted from an artidte in the “Banking Record” to showwbat the nature of an audit should be, and expressed (the opinion that if such an audit as that referred to were instituted their money would be well spent He thought it would be better to rely on the integrity of the managers and officers in preference to continuing the present system. No motion, however, was made on the Object,' and the customary votes of thanks concluded the business.