CALLS.

Auckland Star, Volume III, Issue 627, 15 January 1872, Page 2

CALLS.

To the Editor of the Evening Stab. Sir, —A very able letter appeared in the columns of your contemporary this morning on the subject of calls, and as this is a question in which we are all more or less interested, it commends itself to the consideration of the public, and requires at their hands certain investigations ap to why and wherefore these calls are mVyK The laws of nature seem to insist.^w.. the " big fishes " living on the " smai. fry," and if it was necessary to show an exemplification of this fact we should have little hesitation in giving Auckland as an instance. By those who have indulged in the "gentle art" m the old country, it will be recollected how the approach of a pike spreads terror and consternation among the smaller fry; but the unfortunate thing here is that our colonial money grubber assumes the garb of a wolf in sheep's clothing- He is to be found sitting at Board meetings, occupying a position of- trust; he is there representing the interests of shareholders, and we trust he does so to the best of his ability; but can a man serve two masters ? Is it compatible with sound reason to expect any man to offer himself up to the shrine of philanthropy and sacrifice himself for the sake of his confiding friends or relations, as the case may be ? I think not; in fact, I know to the contrary. It is well known that where there is "a good thiag," the fewer hands it has to be divided amongst the greater the profit; and at a time when the sharemarket is I depressed and money is scarce, we admire ! the sagacity of directors in general in J making heavy calls, thereby forcing the I small shareholder to abandon his shares, | which one by one are picked up by the : trustworthy directors, whose confidence of course remain unshaken in their respective mines. Happy shareholders to possess such enterprising men as your representatives, and benighted idiots to remain inactive in your present unsatisfactory position. I am, &c, L# January 12.