The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, JULY 4.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 174, 4 July 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, JULY 4.

We have had on more than one occasion to draw the attention of our readers to the unprincipled manner in which, in too many cases, business and trade has been conducted, and we consider it our duty to continue to do so, so long as the evil exists, and we should be happy enough if anything we have said should conduceeven in the smallest degree, to a better state of commercial morality. Our reward will then be sufficient, and more than sufficient. We all know that trade and credit are inseparable. Unfortunately we have forced before our notice the fact that credit has allied itself to a much more objectionable companion, and that companion plain-speaking people call dishonesty. The broad principle of sound trade is very clear. The importer or producer sells his goods to the retail trader, allowing the latter time for payment, so as to enable him to dispose of the goods ; the inference being that at the expiration of the time the retailer will have either the money or the stock representing it. How often do we see cases in which, when the crash comes, neither the money or anything to represent it is forthcoming? Is not

such a state of things deplorable ? People will persist in endeavoring to make haste to be rich, trade beyond their capital, spend upon themselves all the profits they can make, and worse than that, more than they can legitim tely make, out of their business. Now, we have lying before us the published report of the latest meeting of shareholders of the Oriental Bank Corporation, held in London on the 24th of April last —only a few weeks before the institution was compelled to close its doors—and here we find an undeniable proof of the remarks we have made. With a liability to the public of /"y,728, 072, only funds to extent of are shewn to be immediately available in the case of urgent necessity. Other assets certainly are shewn making accounts balance to a nicety, but out of these assets we are told that £2,000,000 of the capital and borrowed funds of the bank were unreproductive. Two millions of pounds is a sum not to be picked up everyday, and the interest accruing on such a sum would, at the moderate rate of 5 per cent,, amount to 100,000 per annum, whilst the net earnings of the bank are set down as about Z'7,357- Now here we point our argument —not only do we see a financial institution with a paid up capital of £1, 500,000, and with the deadlock of two millions trading, and that after all the reserve fund had melted awaytrading we say not only without any available capital, but entirely upon borrowed money, and even of that was unreproductive. Can anything more clearly demonstrate the folly of attempting to trade beyond our means. The inevitable result must follow, first difficulties, and a perception of danger; then, in too many cases, concealment, finally ruin. Having given this brief outline, we turn —and we must say with great reluctance—to affairs more nearly concerning us. The Wellington papers were, only the other day, boasting of the infrequency of insolvencies in the Empire city. If they enjoyed any immunity everyone will no doubt feel pleased, but we must certainly state that when our sister town does have a smash, she has a good one ! Our telegrams of Saturday announced the failure of an old established firm, with liabilities of Z'yo.oco and assets Now where has the deficiency of £20,000 gone to ? Here is again another case of a man trading far above his capital. Look at the result! It is written in four letters— Ruin,

The sheepfarmers and those gentlemen who met in committee at the Masonic Hotel on Wednesday afternoon (the report of whose proceedings appeared in our last issue) have such sound and real cause of complaint as to render it a matter for much surprise that they have patiently borne the infliction of the wrong for such a length of time without making any effort to obtain relief. But even now it would appear that the real point in the grievance has been overlooked by most of those who have bestirred themselves in the matter, and which is likely to lead them to a very roundabout way of obtaining their object. The direct cause of complaint is that all sea-borne sheep received in Auckland from this port and sold to the butchers for hilling have, according to existing “ regulations,” to be dipped immediately upon arrival there, thus causing a very serious depreciation in the value of the animals, and sometimes even their entire destruction, to the great loss and annoyance of the owners thereof; and the avowed object of the present agitation is to obtain the abolition of this abnoxious “regulation.’’ In the first place it entails a cost of four pence per head, and depreciates the marketable value of the animals fully two shillings each by rendering the skin less saleable and tainting the meat. Altogether it acts as a poll tax of fully half-a-crown upon the 8,000 sheep annually sent by us to Auckland, which means an annual loss to our farmers of some /T,ooo per annum. After going into the matter, we are led to believe that any such “ regulation ” is contrary to existing law, and that the enforcement of the same, when applied to those sheep which are to be sold to the butchers and slaughtered within ten days of their landing, is an abuse, and is in direct opposition to the spirit and meaning of the Act. If this is really the case, the remedy should be easy of attainment and the correction of the abuse Easily effected by a sufficiently weighty and influential representation being made to the head of the department which exercises Control over this branch of the public service, The fact that this district has long been proclaimed a clean one is entirely outside the question, inasmuch as the reading of the Act leads to the conclusion that even though it were an infected one, there is no .law to justify the enforcement of a “ regulation ” such as that complained of, when the sheep are slaughtered within ten days of landing. There is also another strong argument which might be used with much force against the operation. Fat sheep conveyed per steamer to Auckland have to undergo an almost incredible amount suffering before their final dispatch. They are generally driven in on Saturday and penned up all night, and shipped on Sunday, and are again landed in Auckland' on Monday afternoon, when they are once more penned up until Tuesday morning. They are then, after upwards of three days’ fasting, put through the dip, and, wet and exhausted, turned out into an unsheltered paddock. Linder these circumstances is it to be wondered at that, in bad weather, many die from exhaustion and exposure, and we have it on the most reliable authority that a short time ago no less than thirty-nine died out of one lot. After their long enforced fast and consequent weakness the poor animals are in a most unfit condition to undergo the additional torture of dipping, and the common dictates of humanity should alone be sufficient inducement and justification for the speedy suppression of the obnoxious “ regulation.’’ The sheepfarmers have right, law, and humanity on their side, and only require that the provisions of the Act may be fairly and liberally carried out in their entirety, and without partiality or regard to any place or interests. Under these circumstances there can be little doubt but what the committees efforts will speedily obtain the correction of what may be termed a gross abuse.