UNION BANK OF AUSTRALIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 567, 10 April 1858, Page 5

UNION BANK OF AUSTRALIA.

(From the 'Express,' Jan. 11.) This afternoon, the usual half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors of the Union Bank of Australia was held at the bank, Old Broadstreet; Mr. J. J. Cummins, chairman of tho board of directors in the chair. The attendance was numerous. • ■■! Thestatement of liabilities and assets made up at the branches on the. 30th June, 1857, and at the London office on the 31st Dec. 1857, was as follows:—Liabilities: Circulation, £473,559; deposits, £2,582,541 13s. 7d.; bills payable and other liabilities, £1,262,089 14s. Id.; balance of undivided profits, £86,763 Is. 2d.: reserve fund (invested as per contra), £200,000; paid-up capital, £820,000; total, £5,424,953 Ba. 10J.; Statement of Profits : Balance of undivided profits at June, 1857 : £79,282 Bs. 5d. ; out of which a dividend was declared, by way of interest, amounting to £77,900; leaving aba lance of £1,382 Bs. sd. To which are now to be added the profits of the past half-year, as reported, £85,338 ss. lid. (deduct income tax for half-year, £2,957 13s. 2d.,) equal to £85,380 12s. 9d.;'balance of undivided profits, £86,763. Is. 2d. Assets: Specie on hand and cash balances; £870,427 6s. lid.; bullion,' £10,031 4s. Id.; bank premises and property, £72,784 13s. lOd. ; bills receivable; government stock, and other securities, £4^271,710 45.; investment of reserve fund, New Three per Cents , £200,000; total, £5.424,953 Bs. lOd. Reserve fund: As 'reported at June, 1857, £200,000. - The; report of the directors stated that the profits of' the bank for the past half-year amounted to £98,338 ss. lid., from which they had deducted £10,000 for doubtful dependencies. The advices from the colonies were to the 11th j and 14th of November, and were very satisfac- j tory. Some failures had taken place during the six months, from which the bank had suffered to a small degree. Branches had been opened at the gold fields of Ballaarat, Sandhurst, and Ararat, in Victoria; they were working satisfactorily/ and the inspector had some other localities in view, where it was proposed shortly to open two branches. The operations of the bank were also vastly extending in New Zealand, and under these circumstances the directors had resolved to call up the unpaid capital on the shares of the third issues, and the following periods had been fixed on for the, payment of the calls, viz,:—£7 10s. on the Ist of February, £5 on the Ist of April, £5 oh the Ist of July, and £5 on the lst.afiictqber next. In conclusioii,,the directors recommended the payment of a dividend at the rate of 10,-per cent for the halfyear, which would- absorb £82,000 of the balance of undivided profits, and would be payable in London, free of income tax, on the 26th instant, and in the colonies with the addition of income tax, as soon as the" inspector "should fix the day after the receipt of advices from home. The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report, remarked upon the late date to which the advices from the colonies were brought down, and expressed his confident belief that in future years the annual reports from • the ' proprietors would reach to, still later periods of the year. The new capital was created in :1841; at that time the gold discoveries in Australia had not taken place, and. six branches were found sufficient for carrying on the business of the bank. Accordingly, the directors then only called up £2 10s. upon the new shares, but the gold discoveries had caused the increase of branches from 6 to 20, while in New Zealand.the bank was under an obligation to pay off the circulation of the government bank there, and to provide for the banking arrangements of the local authorities, and it was this state of facts which had determined the directors to call up the whole of the unpaid capital. Commenting upon the recent monetary crisis he declined to say that it might not hereafter affect the bank; but as yet it had not suffered any loss or inconvenience. -It was impossible to speak with any degree of certainty as to the future; but though thei%a might be contractions of trade, such a state of things as that recently witnessed in this country could not arise in. Australia, while its gold-fields were yielding something like £1,000,000 a month. The Australian colonies might be over-clouded for a time, .but the depression could be only transitory, and the proprietors had no real cause to expect a permanent falling off in the amount of their annual profits. (Cheers). After a brief consultation, the report was unanimously adopted, and the dividend duly declared. The Chairman then moved a resolution, authorising the directors to call up the unpaid capital on the third series of shares in the manner proposed by the report. He explained that the total amount of this third issue was £180,000 arid that when the whole of the four instalments were paid up the entire capital of the bank would be £980,000. The instalments payable in Februaiy and April would be enti tied to dividend next Christmas and those payable in July and October, at Midsummer, 1859. The resolution was carried unanimously, and the proceedings closed.

J&ome is tovn by a new trouble : the Marquis Campana, Director of the Monte^ di Pieta or Government pawnbroking establishment, has been suddenly arrested by the Tope's Government for exceeding the permission which he had to" borrow" the funds of the establishment

for his own.■ purposes. As he is most kind to the poor, and has used his appropriations for a munificent patronage of art, Home is on fire at the unjustseverity of the Government; and the Marchioness appeals for justice—to the Emperorof the French! •■■ ■