The Oamaru Mail. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1242, 10 April 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1880.

TVf. are tolcl tlmt one of tlie banking companies fowling in this Colony is compelling the clerks engaged by them to si;ni an agreement which binds them, in the event of leaving tlie service ot tlieir bank, through any cause, and entering the service of another bank within the period of one-year, to refund to the bank as damages or compensation their last year's salary with five per cent, interest until paid. Surely this is carrying a joke too far. "We much doubt if the bank could enforce such an agreement, though the result .of any action to enforce it would be the saddling of the ex-clerk with that peculiar outcome of our legal system, viz., the excess of costs as ber tween plaintiff and defendant, which, as we too well know, frequently causes . a won, to be equally as ruinous as a lost, action. _lt has been decided in a neighboring Colony that if a medical man sells his practice, and executes an agreement, in whjch is inserted a clause that he undertakes, under a penalty, not to , practice for a certain period of the town or district in which hecai-ried on that practice, such a contract is not binding, as being contrary to the public good, and therefore ultra vires.On appeal to the Privy Council this decision was confirmed, and subsequently similar decisions were given in the cases of an hotelkeeper. and a . restaurant keeper. It is no doubt very ' annoying to bank 4L I to \ officers who have been for years in their employ, but the remedy is in ■ their own hands. !No one who foi : years lias, been in any one employ ' U-T- llio oillllclWl/11, . save for the purpose of improving his ; position, and no agreement .can be made which would have any legal force ' to restrict anyone from so doing. Therefore, the only course for -directors to follow is to see that really valuable officers are paid salaries proportionate to the value of the services tjiev render. - Msnj bank clerks receive salaries which, only by the exercise of extreme economy, suffice to keep them from that giant of despair—debt—and in some of the banks promotion j comes so slowly as to cause bright hopes to be deferred till the heart becomes sick. Frequently some pet from the London offices supplants, some good colonial man, or is appointed to a position over the heads of expectants. Yet this has to be borne with; and now, forsooth, certain London bank magnates would punish any clerk for dating to accept a better engagement, therein* compelling them to remain in an inferior one. Fortunately the regis of the law protects even a bank clerk, so that this selfish action of the powers that be is merely a shadow}* bugbear. Mam* gentlemen now hold high positions in banking institutions in this Colonv who were translated from the services of other banks to which they had been attached for many years. One of these is Mr. Tnomas Buchanan, who, having been a manager in the sendee of the Bank of Australia, now holds the most important office of Inspector in another banking service. Anotheris Mr. TV. Dvmock. who will long be held in high esteem in Christchurch, where he tilled the position of manager of the Bank of Australasia, and is now right worthily occupying the post of manager of the" National Bank in Dunedin. Miny other instances of translation could be cited, all of which tended to advancement in position and emolument, and, therefore, must have been for the public good. Bank clerks may rest assured that, even if they are compelled to enter into this one-sided agreement, the law wiJJ justify and protect them should they be so fortunate as to find more lucrative engagements than the ones now. held by them. Most undoubtedly, any attempt to enforce this horrible black-mail would not only prove abortive, but would cover with disgrace those demanding such "fi pound of:flesh."