THE BANK MOVEMENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 694, 2 July 1859, Page 6

THE BANK MOVEMENT.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Time*.

Sib, —Yonr article on the position of monetary affairs in this Province and the action of the Bank at the present, moment has naturally excited great attention, and is without doubt a fair exponent of jroneral opinion on the subject. Whatever appeals through the pocket to our feelings is sure to be a matter of great interest.' I shall therefore not apologise for troubling- you with a few remarks. In giving the Bank credit fo,r a desire by its ■present action to put a stop -to the extravagant {^peculation iv horses which has taken place, you seem to me to give what it by no means deserve?. If the Bank had refused their accomraodation some four months ajro to the-importers, we should not then have been flooded withsomehundredsof worthless animals, and the Province would have been richer fcy.£2o-,000. The horse market was really fclv.Ued before uny step was taken by the Bank.

It seems pretty v.;el! known that'the Batik lias rpc-eivcel its cue from home, and that the orders to refiner. Hs discounts are peremptory ; and'therefore r. /'ousidernble amount oi' embarrassment and difficulty h certain to ensue in the Province. We are wnlmut. donht completely in the hands ofthe-Bank, h it:th« 'case that the London Board of the

Union Bank of Australia look upon their little branches in New Zealand as out of the pale of civilisation, and as not answering to the usual laws rogulating the circulation; th?,t they can expand or diminish the amount of their discounts in these parts, by a stroke of the pen in the back parlour jit Broad street, without the usual consequences of such an action?

If tiiis is really the case, and we are to be deluded by a temporary liberality into extending our trade and then to have these advances suddenly recalled by the fiat of a London board, careless of or not caring to know about our real position and interests —then I say, deliberately, the sooner we are out of the hands of such a power, the better. Partly from a feeling of community and identity of interests —partly from a wholesome competition —the London Bankers as a body are most courteous and considerate to their customers, and recognise a reciprocity of interest in their transactions. In times of difficulty they invariably make every efFort consistent with their own safety to assist them. Here we have the case of a bank, enjoying a monopoly of the business of the place, plunging half its clients into difficulties by its own action!

"It is absurd in the present state of the province to talk of a local bank; and it is perhaps foolish to bark when we cannot bite; but this result of the governing power of the bank being 16,000 miles distant will doubtless carry its lesson, and I trust its warning also, to those engaged in the trade

Where the managers are but machines to carryout orders from a distance, what community, of interest can be felt betwen the bank and its clients? A branch is merely one spot among many to employ capital profitably without any local ideas or interests mixed up in. the matter.

I am, sir, yours, &c,

OBSERVER