THE KAIKOURA STAR, KAIKOURA, JULY 3, 1894.

Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 752, 3 July 1894, Page 4

THE KAIKOURA STAR, KAIKOURA, JULY 3, 1894.

Until the receipt of the text of the Bill hurriedly passed through the Legislature last Friday night, it, is rather difficult to determine the exact nature and objects of ihe measure. Whether it was brought forward simply in the interests of the Bank of New Zealand as a banking corporation, or for the pint benefit of that institution and the Colony does not yet appear clear. Telegrams indicate that the legislation is directly in furtherance of the Bank’s businesss, but it must also be in the interests of the Colony indireetly. This is self-evident when it is considered that it is the banking institution with which the Colony transacts its business, and, of equal importance, that the ramifications of the Bank’s business extend far and wide. That to residents of this Colony the prosperity of the Bank of New Zealand means a very great deal, and that any injury it might sustain through want of Legislative assistance would have baneful effects upon the whole community. Therefore, from a national point of view, the action taken by the Colonial Treasurer last week must receive the warmest approbation of everyone who recognises how much there is at stake in connection with the reationship existing between the State and the Bank, and between the Bank and Colonists. It may be that heavv withdrawals on account of Loan”and Mercantile calls have caused tension, or other circumstances may have contributed to a momentary crisis, yet all concerned the State, the Bank, and colonists —must feel relieved and gratified to find that the difficulty—whatever it was—has been successfully surmounted. Should it prove that the Colony had got into a tight place—a state of affairs we cannot for one moment entertain in the face of the Treasurer’s statement of a surplus—-

then will it. be time to make drastic changes. If it is the Bank's affair a crisis has been cleverly averted. Apart altogether from the true state of the case, the incident must, to our mind, materially further the cause of the State Bank party, and hasten the establishment of State Banking machinery.