The Colonial Bank.

Manawatu Herald, 29 September 1894, Page 3

The Colonial Bank.

) ♦ The fortieth half-yearly meeting of the above Bank was held at Dunedin on Wednesday. The Hon. George McLean was in the chair ancij entered into a lengthy explanation ? not only of the position of the Bank but of. the reasons leading to the attempted amalgamation with the Bank of -ftew. Zealand and showed that the main objection to the Bohenie is that the Colony having guaranteed the Bank of New Zealand £2,000,000 is now asked to guarantee the Assets Company, but as a matters of fact the Bank of New Zealand are only shareholders in that Company, and consequently the two millions guarantee applies to both concerns. What. the scheme was designed to effect? was the building up of the dead assets so that they would be handled without injuring the credit of the Bank. On being satisfied that the Bank of New Zealand capital was written down and provision made to meet ascertained losses, and for doubtful accounts, we proposed to put in our capital of £400,000, which would have added to thje safeguards against loss to the Colony trough the guarantee of the two millions. We then proposed to hand over all our assets, and the new bank was to have underwritten our liabilities, after an exhaustive examination and rejection of anything doubtful. The benefit you gentlemen were to have received in return would have b«en that you got shares in a strong institution, starting with undoubted business, on a new career, possessing all elements of success. .Objection was then taken to the removal of reserved liability from our shareholders, but it would have been manifestly unfair to have kept this liability hanging oyer yqur. heads while the reserved

liability of the shareholders of th Bank of New Zealand was taken hold of by the Government to answer any deficiency in the realisation of the Asset 3 Company.