The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 696, 9 July 1859, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

' Saturday, July 9. That our contemporary should have given" to the public a somewhat, rambling' and unconvincing- article on the'present state of the money market would have been no business; of ours, had it not taken it upon itself to hint pretty broadly that we had no right to discuss the conduct of the Union Bank of Australia at all, and to intimate that the establishment ought to be considered out of the reach of the Press and of.public criticism. It; is not to be wondered at that in attempt-mo" ;to maintain such an extraordinary position, the ' Standard' should have exhibited a want1 of its wonted astuteness, and in its zeal should

have forgotten discretion.; Fancy a corp or .» tion which issues notes" By authority o fn" Act of the Colonial legislature, and which \ bound to furnish certain'returns to the Colq S nial Government, but whose actions, at tl same time, the Press has no right to comment On! Is our contemporary prepared to p ro pose ' a new: restrictive law on; the liberty of the Press? Let Governments' be assailed let commercial enterprise be discussed in all its branches save one! If the one baker i your town does not satisfy you, write to yoiJ paper and suggest a second. All this is ]&, v . ful; but don't trench on sacred ground. The bank is the one temple of the Aloney God i this place y how can the profane Press dare to approach so popular a shrine ? Seriously speaking, we shall take leave to discuss the proceedings of the Bank as. we should any others of public importance. J The remarks which we; felt called onto make were couched in very moderate terms and allowed all that our contemporary says of the necessity of checking trading It is quite true that the public cannot know the whole of the BanK:side of the questionbut that, is no reason;,why.they should not .state theirs. We have: always given the Bank credit for being a very business-like ami safe establishment j it can take very good care of itselfj and it doubtless does so; but it is possible for the Bank" .to err, and the public has a right .to state its'yiew of the case. "We have no hesitation in saying/that it is a very general impression; -that,; while;:_ putting a proper check;upon foolish and raskspeculation, the Bank does not give; sufficient assistance to the legitimate trader^ ;whos6'Jminediate necessities are of course increased;"' J by the rather sudden^check;to general discounting. It is thought that, for the, godd ;6f ; the, community and. of, the Bank itself, the. discj-etion of local managers ought to. : be-more unfettered than it1! is supposed to be. And it is further the opinion of mo&t men of business that it is hot good for any-community to bel entirely in the hand sof one banking establishment. These are the views of a large, number of the public, and they .have a right .to,give expression to them. No man of business^and we should think those connected with the Union Bank least of all, would consider a public statement of these yiews prejudicial either to public or private interests. v. .. ' But, : as .it has .challenged our. right to make such remarks, we .are bound to examine those of] the ; £ Standard.' By the bye, one of the reasons : adduced for making- any remarks at all is■••" because we did so slightly ih".bur:last':;-'issue:!"^ J-':We-find a good many truisms which we dp not dispute, and one or two statements wHicK"we r cannot assent to. For instance, to us it! is not notorious thut £30,006;or£iOjOOQ,is : locked up in the public chest: would be nearer the mark, Indeed) so muchi as £30j000 has never at one, time been in the treasury, as a reference to the published return will show. Whatever the balance is, it is in the Bank, and increases .its resources.' It is. "not locked up, and; does not: decrease, the money available for circulation.,/' .«.■:'.•; -^ -■ :

We are forcibly-reminded-by the somewhat contradictory remarkson-the discount operations of the Bari^vof..'the "argument of tlie counsel for the old woman whoSvas,summoned for returning a borrowed kettle jyith a hole in the bottom of it. ; He, pleaded .first that the kettle was broken when .borrowed.; secondly, that it was returned whole"; arid thirdly, that the tild lady .never had it at all. Now, we are told, first, that it was a; very good thing torestrict the discounts j secondly, that discounts are not restricted ; and thirdly, that nobody knows anything- about ifcbut.theßank itself! In like manner we are told, very-truly, in one sentence, that "it is sheer nonsence to talkov write of London- Banks or London Merchants or Companies of any kind starting- here or at homel for any other, object'than 'self-interest.'1 But; afterwards sympathy is claimed, for je Curtras-leap into the 4arkjmade by the Union Bank in; Canterbury. We wonder wlietlier the noble Roman had any thought of dividends at the bottom of that dark gulph in the Fbi'um.^ ' '• ■■'"■:•'"" ■■■■:■':■■:. -v -:^ •■■■ .■■.:..■

' We shmildbe very'sorry, to be deprived of the. sorvices of the-Uriidn Bank for the sake oC getting the exclusive services of any other corporation, but we have top high a respect for-.r its business qualities to ask in its behalf for an exemption from public criticism, or to deprecate the wholesome stimulus of competitibn: ■'/■ .•'' ■•■";'■';' -■'; '"■r;" ■••' '; ;;': :