BLACKMAILING NEW ZEALAND ENTERPRISES.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 144, 30 May 1884, Page 2

BLACKMAILING NEW ZEALAND ENTERPRISES.

It is about time some steps were taken to curb the rapacity of a section of city-men (most of them Anglo-Colonials) who make I large sums of money by levying “blackmail ” on the promoters of New Zealand enterprises. Chief of those worthies is a wellknown man who himself floated an undertaking of the first magnitude several years ago. In all land speculations this person’s good word has become a matter of absolute necessity, for, though his assistance by no means ensures success, his opposition is unquestionably fatal. This has been proved again and again. Some years ago the chairman of a most powerful land syndicate, backed up by a great bank, resolved to defy the champion mailer. The latter is a strictly religious and high-principled person, who would scorn to take ad vantage of anyone; so when asked about the new land company, he (apparently) confined his opposition to jhakin ; his li da 1 1< volumes. The effect of thes * proce- < s was, however, inarvellou j. h tl i” i • pects conceivable, the speculation fell quite fiat. Neither the public, the Press, nor the Stock Exchange took kindly to it. The promoters

were aghast. They went to Mr. X (as I vJM call him), and threatened exposure. Hfll smiled blandly, and asked why they should expect him to give a favotable opinion about land of which he knew nothing, and in which he had no interest. “ But,” quoth the angry promoter, “ our lots absolutely adjoin those you made so much of two years ago.” “ Just so,” replied X, “ that is why I think you would have done well to consult me about the matter before hand, I should then have been able to advise speculators conscientiously whereas now I find myself obliged to tell allcomers I can give no opinion on the matter.” The promoters went away sadder but wiser men. Nothing could, be done in that paiticular matter, for X is not a man who can be openly bribed, but the next land “ spec ” they were mixed up in they insured his co-operation. On another occasion tne founder of a special settlement recognised the value of X’s assistance, and ottered him a lump sum of £5OO for it. When he found this was the outside amount for which the company could bs drawn, X refused the terms, and quietly damned the whole concern. “It was not,” he told a friend subsequently, “ worth my while to mix myself up in such a scheme for thre times five hundred pounds. Had they offered five thousand pounds I might have thought about it.” At the present time Xis negotiating a heavy “ black mail ” with thd representatives of a North New Zealand Land Company. The latter had completed a capital bargain with a London bank, and was on the point of receiving a deposit, when X interfered, and whilst admitting the excellence of the vendor’s land, and acknowledging that the price per acre was most moderate, threatened to overthrow the whole arrangement unless handsomely “ squared.” In addition to X, there are a number of lesser “sharks” (bank managers, financial agents, and brokers), who fasten on to colonial promoters and bleed them assiduously. The influence of all such is, I am told, purely negative. They may (probably do) injure, but they can’t materially assist you. The best way to put an end to the system would be for some promoter, having floated a company, to relate his “ black-mailing ” experiences, and give X and Co. the publicity their good works deserve.