THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

Evening Post, Issue 232, 4 November 1865, Page 2

THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

We think it would be difficult to find colonial institutions, either banks or Insurance Companies, which have met with anything like the success of the two institutions the Bank of JSew Zealaud and the New Zealand Insurance Company both of which have taken their rise in Auckland within the last few years. On the present occasion we shall confine our attention to the first-named institution only, of which the eighth half yearly report was received by the shareholders \ esterday. The Bank of New Zealand was established in 1861, and since that time has returned to its proprietors fifty-four per cent of their invested capital, in addition to the accumulated reserve fund of £133,000, which, if taken into account, gives a profit of something like cent, per cent, for the ! lour years that the bank has been in existence. During the laxt six months a sum of upwards of £.18,000 has been added to

the reserve fund after making provision for bad and doubtful debts, and when that fund amounts to £150,000 it is intended to divide the whole of the profits among the shareholders. The business of the ensuing half-year will no doubt more than accomplish this. There is one very noticeable feature in the dealings of this bank, during the last half year, that not one bad debt has been contracted, and that during the same period a sum of £2792 3s sd, previously written off as bad or doubtful, has been recovered. This fact speaks well lor the soundness of the commercial men of Auckland, and for the judgment of the local manager aud inspector, indeed, from the directors downwards, the whole of the officers connected with this establishment deserve the greatest credit. We are glad to see that the directors have reported favorably on the advisability of raising the scale of '• salaries for the several offices throughout this banking establishment. The duties are, in many ca>e«, heavy, requiring, many ot them more than ordinary intelligence, and entailing oftentimes great reapousibility ot trust. Before quitting the subject, we would draw attention to the large amount of deposits placed in this bank, reaching a sum of nerly one and a half millions (about the same sum as that deposited in all the other banks in the colony put together) an evidence of the wealth of the province and of the general confidence which the Bank of New Zealand enjoys. If, however, the Bank^f New Zealand enjoys the confidence and patronage of the people of this province especially, and of the colony generally, it is no more than it deserves. During the commercial crisis through which the Province has happily passed, the mercantile men of Auckland have ever found in this Institution the necessary accommodation for carrying on their arrangements, an accommodation which, with one exception, the foreign banks having branches here, were not inclined to afford them. It is thus, not only as an investment for their capital, that this Institution hns proved a benefit to Auckland. The people of this Province may congratulate themselves on having so powerful a friend to fall back upon in a time of difficulty. K.Z. Herald 28th October.