PERMANENT BUILDING AND INVESTMENT SOCIETY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1557, 13 May 1887, Page 3

PERMANENT BUILDING AND INVESTMENT SOCIETY.

TO THE EDITOB, Sir, — As Managing Director of the Ashburton Permanent Building and Investment Society, permit me to make a few remarks on the letter which appeared m your publication of yesterday's date, and bearing the signature of " Victim." I may here state that tl am averse o - being drawn into a newspaper correspondence, and shall therefore be as brief m my remarks as the circumstances of the case will admit. I profess to have some knowledge of figures and calculations, but by what " insorutable prooess " Victim has arrived at the conclusion that £30 paid m twelve equal inrtelments ol £2 10a eaoh, at intervals of one month between each payment, extending of course ovor one year, oan by any possible means produce £2 Is 3d of interest at tho rate of £10 per centum per annum, is beyond my comprehension. I may here state that he has no more right to olaim interest for anything beyond the subscription | of £30 than a purchaser of shares at a pro- ) mium m any undertaking, bus to claim interest for the premium he has to pay for the shares he purohases. Then, again, m tho third paragraph of his interesting epistle Victim makes thc«Bßtounc l uig assertion 'that the difference between £31 18s 9d and £31 11s 8J is 8s Id ; if these are fair samples of Victim's calculations, your readers are quite welcome "to draw their own conclusions" But this not all, m his F.S., which jg somatiraes said to bo the most important part of a letter, he states that he is 18s Id to the bat). Now if he is speaking|of tho year ending $lst January, 1887, he must surely know that he is stating that which is not borne out by facts; on the other hand, it he includes the present year as far as it has goqo, to have stated the facts fairly he Qhoqld have said that he. has £$1 lln 8d together with four instalments of £2 10s. each, all bearing interest at the rate of 7 per cent per annum, added monthly and compounded half-yearly, m addition to which at tho end of the financial year he wil 1 bo entitled to a proportionate share of whatever profit may be made. How much this will amount to I leave to Victim's own vivid imagination as a calculator to disoover and set against his phantam 18s Id. Doubtless your readerß will " draw their own conclusioiis " on this sample of Victim's facts. I will refrain from commenting on Viotim'B motive m writing and publisLing his letter. Permit me to mention a few facts that havo been accomplished by the operations of the Society, which can be attested by mombeis who have bad 12 years experience of its work, whereas Vlotim had, at the close of tbe fipanc'al year, had only 5 rnontb.B experience m whioh to form his opinion, The first issue of pharos mado by the Society waa on the Ist February, 1873, and this isfiue arrived at maturity within : 8 years of the date of' issue, and the boldors of theso shares reoeived £50 12s 9d per share for a share subscription of £2,*; m other words, a shareholder paying 5s 'per menth, or £_ 3 ?er year, fdr 8. yetlrs, reneiyed at the end, pi hat term 35012s ftd. TBe second Issue pi shares took place m the month of >\.ugu£jt f 1875, and matured m January, \BQ&, realising £f>D 19s 7d for share payments amounting to £25 lQa. From tbes6 facts I bave no doubt Victim and your readers will " draw their owu conclusions." Let me close this letter by recommending Viotim to submit bh oaloulations to Borne schoolboy of the Sixth Standard to examine, before he reokle&sly rashes them into print, I may, however, for general infQnpa'iuin, state that tihe Socithy allots £"/' pW 'rienb' on B 'investment sharei, added nionthly and compounded half-yearly, and at the enddf the "financial year a proportionate share of whatever profit has been made is added, and fain has bedn all'Qcated to the ten" ohareu owned y,iotiia^. -'' ' 'Jam, etc., '' . jl'Waw, Manager. ' AehburtQP, 12th May, 1887. My wife and daughter were made healthy by the use of American Co.'s Hop Bitters, and I recommend it to my people.—Methodist Cleryraan. Read,

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