BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 679, 6 May 1869, Page 3

BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

(From the New Zealand Herald, April 23.)' The fifteenth half yearly report of the' Board of Directors of the Bank of New Zealand, which was received and adopted yesterday by the proprietors, shows tho aaTie satisfactory results of steady progress which from the first has characterised thia local institution. Although but one banking company out of five doing business in the Colony, and though its competitors are, three of them at least, institutions of long standing! and accumulated wealth, the Bank of New Zealand has managed to secure to itself nearly one-half the business in the Colony. There are two points nlluded to by the Chairman in his address, which will be found elsewhere, reprinted with the report; —the one evidencing the large business done by the bank ; the oilier, the estimation in which it is held, and theconfidence reposed in its managemant by the general public. The first is the amount of note circulation ; the second, the large and steadily increasing amount of deposits. The circulation of notes reaches to within £7,000 of the whole of the circulation of notes by the other banks, a fact which at once establishes the extent of the business transacted. A not less telling circumstance is the steady increase in depo* sits. A reference to the G-overnment returns for the quarter ended December 3 1 , 1868. shows U 3 that whde the deposits at the five banks transacting business in New Z-aland reach a total of £3,159,976; £1,415,984 of this sum is deposited in the Bank of New Zealand, or within £164,000 of of the entire amount. Nor is this alone to be remarked j the increase in deposits is not a sudden occurrence, bui has reached its present point by a steady rate of progress of one quarcer over another. The aividend is the u-ual one of 10 per cent., with a bonus added, which makes the dividend equal to to 15 per cent., and this, after leaving a balance of £8,313 6s 3d to be carried to the Profit and Loss Fund. Under these circumstances we may, we think, congratulate the shareholders, in the words of the Chairman, that they possess " a very fair and proper division of the business of the country, and one which must be highly satisfactory to them all."

The Taranaki Herald is now issued twieo a week. It has been reduced to half its former size and price. The Provincial Council of Canterbury will meet for the despatch of business on Friday, 7th May. We learn from the Auckland papers that the Governor of Tahiti intends to pay a visit to Auckland in two or three months. Ma. Kelly, the Provincial Secretary of Taranaki, has been elected to the General Assembly in the place of Major Atkinson. The Mikado of Japan has issued an edict ordering the decapitation of all the inmates of a dwelling in which a conflogation originates, accidently or otherwise. Rorotonga.—Particulars are published in the New Zealand Herald, April 26, of a terrible cyclone which pissed over the island of Rorotong'a during the month of March last, "causing immense damage to crops, &c. Constable Jeffrey Macpherson (saja the Otago Daily Times) lately stationed at the Twelve-mile Diggings, West Coast, was summoned to Nelson by the Superintendent to be presented to the Duke of Edinburgh as the first white man born in the Middle Island. The Perfection of Artificial Light. Mr James A. Hogg, gas engineer, of Edinburkh, has discovered a method of producing intense liudit with coal gas, by mixing it with atmospheric air. The mixture of gases is lighted after passing through a tissue of iridio-platina wires at a determined pressure. In a few seconds the metal becomps heated up to a white heat—the flame disappears, and an intense white light is the result. An enlarged picture has been taken by its aid on prepared photographic paper. The light —so it is said—will continue to burn in a gale of wind, and it is not affected by a shower of rain. A little incident is told to show the pleasant relations of Stephenson and Brunei. The two were travelling together in a railway carriage; Stephenson wrapped in a dark plaid, on the exact disposition of the folds of which he somewhat prided himself. He saw Brunei regarding him with curious eye. "You are looking at my plaid," said hej "I'll bet you ten pounds that you cannot put it on properly the first time.' " Very well," said the other ; " I have no objection to bet ten pounds, but I won't take the money j I bet ten pounds against the plaid. If I put it on right when we get out on the first platform, it is mine. If I miss, I pay you, ten pounds." "Done," said Stephenson, and resumed conversation with Locke, who was also in the carriage. But Brunei sat in a brown study, and said not a word till they arrived at the next station. "Now then, Stephenson, give me the plaid to try," said he as he stepped on the platform. Kobert Stephenson slowly unwound the garment. Brunei promptly wound it around his own shoulders, with as much composure as if he had pulled on a great coat. "It is a first attempt," said he, " but I think the plaid is mine." For many a day did he rejoice in its comfort. "But had you never tried it before ?" said a friend. " No," said Brunei ; " but when Stephenson challenged me 1 was not going to give it up ; so 1 began immediately to study the folds, and to make out how he had put it on. I got the thing pretty clear in my head before we reacned tho station, and when I saw him get out of it I knew I waa right j so I put it on at once."