A LITTLE INFORMATION CRAVED

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 2, 3 July 1894, Page 2

A LITTLE INFORMATION CRAVED

TO THE EDITOB OF THE BTAK. Sib, — Able Editors, of bonne, know, all about banking as well as about *: : everything else;, so that when, in , your leading article of Saturday you ■ congratulated the Government on their ' * courageous action in averting what " you say would have been a national calamity, a poor taxpayer like myself • ' naturally supposes that there v some- - thing to be thankful fon I suppose the "calamity averted " mean* in other words saving a certain bank £ from being "reconstructed" That I K believe is the polite way of putting ft. Well I read on a little farther tall I - came to the Press Association telegram giving the pith of the three Bank Bills which were rushed through both Houses of Parliament on Friday night, T It may be all right to prevent prejept shareholders from transferring their shares to men of straw. (The pre- -' sumption that the poor shareholders would be likely to resort to such a method of excaping calls does not say much for the value qf their, stores), V But where is the justice of making two millions of the taxpayer's- money r liable to guarantee a fresh, issqe of J shares by any bank ; or of making the ' unlucky holders of " ordinary " shares go without any dividends till tne petted holders of these new Govern* ment guaranteed «• A " shares are. paid in full 1 ■■ I see one million of thfe hew "^ issue is to be " «t the disposajof the bank for use in its ordinary busteesi.'' -. .What is to prevent the new directors from giving such of their customer*^ '• are of the right colour, tantojatory '. j overdrafts upon insufficient security? I suppose that is the way backs u*uallyv gtt into trouble; Surely it would be /■ better to have a State, bank at once " rather, than pledge, $e> public jund* > to enable a private bank to make- t ducks and drakes of them— wili not, ' the effect of these Bills be to convert the assisted bank into a very powjjrtot ' S political engine in the hands of Gov. «rnmentl •* . . ; :,„,. :,£-? I am, etc., . .-;.-,•. ~,i- £<&?■_.■■ July 2nd, 1894, „/, _