South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2215, 23 April 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1880.

At a time when cheap grain, dear money, heavy taxation, and dearth of employment are all tending to darken the horoscope, it is refreshing to find a gleam of golden light travelling all flic way from Auckland. The cheerful ray to which we refer - , is contributed by (lie half-yearly report of the Bank of New Zealand. The bad times so far from affecting prcjuclically that wellmanaged institution have produced a very handsome dividend. Instead of participating in the disasters of trade and commerce, (lie Bank of New Zealand has lately enjoyed a season of almost unprecedented prosperity. Industrial and mercantile adversity instead of afflicting the Bank, have rendered a splendid return to the fortunate shareholders. The appearances are most encouraging. The directors and management can hardly be complimented too highly. With a very moderate capital they have contrived to net during the past six months no less than £74,000, and a dividend and bonus equal to 15 per cent per annum have been declared. This is satisfactory in the extreme. It is also hopeful. Alongside of .such profitable results,pastoral, .agricultural, mining and manufacturing speculations may hide their diminished heads. Who will deny in the presence of such a report that capital cannot be safely and profitably invested in the colony ? Fifteen per cent, per annum, and a handsome balance carried forward 1 Where is the flour or sawmill that has ground down and cut asunder to such purpose? FI Dorados there are, even manufacturing El Dorados, but their profits fluctuate and sometimes become losses. The Bank of New Zealand is no ordinary El Dorado. It lias attained its thirty-seventh half-year and its prosperity has grown with its manhood. To its shareholders it is no mere venture —hut a certain fortune. Its dividends are as certain as the tides or the rising sun. It is no ephemeral production; its rim of luck is no mere chapter of accidents. Good management and an effective influence over the political institutions of New Zealand have rendered it as impregnable as Gibraltar, and as invincible as forked lightning. It stands at this moment at the head of safe and lucrative investments. Fifteen percent, per annum, and a handsome balance besides ! The individual with capital at command that would risk his savings in ordinary enterprises, while shares in such a profitable institution are available for purchase, must be endowed with more than the average allotment of human folly. There are many colonists at this moment who are down on their luck. Some after years of toil and plodding have been borne down by their business friends and commercial brethren-in-mis-fortunc, and have to begin the world afresh. Let them not bo discouraged. A little reflection will put them on the safe road to prosperity—a road to which there is no turn. If they would prosper in the future they must neither plough, nor sow, nor harrow. They must not chase the fickle goddess through the medium of the mill, the workshop; or the mine. They must be content to abandon active pursuits, and to rely on skilful financing. They must go into the note-making and lending business. 111-natural people may call them usurers and pawnbrokers, and apply other offensive epithets, but what does that signify V They can point to banking institutions as their model, and to the wealth they have accumulated as a certificate of character. The occasionally well abused grubber is better off than the constantly despised hard-working drudge. Many persons fail to succeed in life owing to a species of false delicacy. They are generous when they ought to be frugal and saving ; forgiving when they should be resolute. When they see a fallen friend they refuse to jump on him, and they look upon skinning alive as cruelty. Such sentimentalists do not deserve to get on in the world, and when they fall, as they almost invariably do, they receive little or no compassion. The universal verdict is “serves them right.” Although

Misfortune does not always wait on vice,

Nor is success the constant guest of virtue, still there is no doubt it is a serious crime to be unsuccessful. The Quaker s advice, “Make money, my son, by honest means if you can, but by all means make money,” was a wise one, founded on sound financial maxims. A little reflection on the part of: unsuccessful tradesmen and manufacturers will show them that they have erred in entering - into wrong - and ruinous lines of speculation. Had they kept the Bank of New Zealand in view as their model, and gone into the paper trade, they might now be as wealthy as Dives, instead of being as poor as Lazarus. Businessmen are mere puppets very often. Their capital is often but moonshine. Thcir banker is the lion and they bury thenheads in his jaws. That he doesn’t crunch them of tener is due to the good nature of the merciful animal. They may have a very independent spirit but what is that? Itis an independent position they require. These business men sometimes carry their heads very high, and thej' rule the roost at the meetings of public bodies. These public bodies have to tolerate incompetent officers which the members would gladly get rid of, if the} r only dared call their souls their oun. But the officers are friends of their Banker, and when they think of the lion’s jaws, their faculties become bc-

numbed, and they are seized with a hideous nightmare. Hence all the ravings about official reform and retrenchment are mei’e vaporing. Highsalaried incompetence is tolerated, not because anybody is in love with the article, but because it has the patronage of the ruling deity —the banker. The latter is the source of power ; the wellspring of hope. He bleeds and blisters and the shareholders realise (he benefit. The moral is obvious :—Avoid active business, have nothing to do with industry, study the science of banking, and if you do not care to commence on your own account, invest in shim's, and repose in peace and luxury on a serene conscience and fifteen per cent per annum.