BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

Taihape Daily Times, 13 June 1919, Page 4

BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

’ ‘ANNUAL MEETING or ' ~ PROPRIETORS. ‘jg’ 4 (By Special —’l‘elc-graph.) ‘ VVELLINGTON, this day, The ordinary meeting of the proprietors of the Bank of New Zealand was held at Head omce ms, Friday, morning. Mr H. Es'eaue.hamp. Chairman of Diuetors, preside»-, In his comments upcr. the report andKbalance-sheet, the Cltairuran said the capital remained unchanged. The Reserve Fund. which, after thfi appropriation made lust year, stood at ‘ £2,200,000; and the further transfer 01.‘ £150,000, which«, we are proposing t) make this year will increase the 7 fund to £2,350,000. otes in circulation amount to 53,728,249. This item exhibits a further increase of- £415,254. The demands. upon us in connection with payment» of returning troops have be-en“—'heavy,_ wr v.l -account for a. large part of the increase. Deposits totalled £31,716,353. These show a growth of £1,278,417. The actual increase in deposits, fixed and free, from the public is nearly £2,220,000. Governmeirt deposits have shrunk about £1,000,000, thus making the net imreasc a little over a million and :1 quarter. 1 ,4, Coin, bullion, Governnient notes, and‘ l<.-gal tender notes aggregate £6,719,765, There has been a general shrinkage in notes and. bullion, but an expansion in coir: and cash balances, leaving the not decrease. asgabove. ‘ Money. at short call and bills reeeivable in London total £13,518.056, . an increase of £1,375,176. This increase is temporary, and was , occasioned by the receipt of Imperial GC~v,ernment payments for colonial commandeered produce: It is. therefore, ina sense. the contra to the increase in depos_it.s upon which I have just _com--mented. The funds are temporarily emplcyed in gilt—edged securities, which are readily realisable when the depositor‘; require to draw their produce pro~ ceeds in the Dominion. All our London ‘investments are Written down at a» figure at which they would be easily saleable. .

Investments in the Dominion now stand at £3,276,162. The assets included under this and the two previousheadings of coin, etc., and money at short call, etc., are equivalent to 62.16” per cent, or, roughly, 12/5 in the £1 of the bank’s,liabilit-ies to the public. Adva.nces.-—_Bills discounted £1,475,750, and other advances £17,359,7f57, show a combined increaselof £1,078,783. _I may say that We have been informed that there have been complaints that thebank is not aflfor-ding adequate‘ support to the trade and industry of the country. I can only say that there is no justification at all for such c'omplaints. The banl~:_is turning away no business-offered by its customers that can, by any means, he made suitable fgr a bank"s ctonsideration. You ‘will’ of course, clearly understand that the‘;e are limits to advance business beyond which it would be injurious for a, bank to go. A bank’s province is, properly speaking, to finance trade. It should" not sink money in land,, buildings, machinery, and such like. The money for those should be provided by the customer’s own capital, and the banker should not be asked to assist untilWork andtrading commences. *When that point is ‘reached, the time has arrived when the bank can take a hand. S'lonlet.i-nies, ‘however, ‘VVC are approached with a request to find all the money needed to start some new industry, while the pronioters themselves propose to provide nothing, or next to nothing, in the way of capital. Applicants must not be surprised in such cases if their applications are refused, or sanctioned only on condition that ad neasonable amount of capital is provided by those priinarily interested.

Profit and Loss.——After paying interest on the Guuraiiteed Stock providing for the annual grant. 150 the Provident Fund, and for r 8 5199013 grallt «C 9 the fund, paying‘ bonuses to the stafi, writing of £50,000 from premises and furniture 'aeajounts,’. and {making all the necessary provision for bad and doubtful debts, and for depreciation in the value of other assets, the net Profits for the year amount to £388,022, as compared with £336,607 as at 31st: March 1918. .-. ’ STAFF. K Th. termination of the war and the C 0 g;-;;(]u-3.1 return of_the troops is already relieving the strain upon the personnel of our mule staff. We have had the pleasure of _weleonling and reinstating in the service many returned «officers, and there are still many more to come. We are nlfw in a position to begin giving muc -needed holiday leave to» hard-worked officers, who have been bearing the burden of the business during the years of war in inade-quately-staifed offices. Of the total number of ofiicers Who: jcined the Colours. namely 560, We had at the 31st ulto. 259 still on leave with the military forces; 203 had returned to the Dominion and resumed duty Smtenty have been killed. A total of 136 ‘have been wounded. Women clerks continue to take a sub- ’ stantial part. in the practical work of the bank. At 31st ulto. the number on the roll was 296, a reduction compared with the total of a. year ago. Several ladies had retired voluntarily, now that thevneed for their services IS‘ no longer pressing. We have not, 90 far, found it necessary to dnspense with the services of any desiring to remain with us, and are hopeful that an adjustment in the numbers be effected automatically. A proportion 91' women clerks will, in any case, be perfi manently retained on the bank’s sta_fi, as it has been found that In certain classes of fiork they are very efficient and highly satisfactory. GENERAL MANAGEMENT. - It is with regret that I have to ans»

nounce the approaching retirement of our general manager, Mr William Cal~ lender. ‘ Mr Callender completes fifty years’! service as an officer of the Bank on] 17th January next, having entered the‘ hank’s serviceon 17th January, 1870. ' He hasexpressed a desire,‘ now the war is over——or pnazctically so—-t 0 be relieved of his ;po;—‘.tioll 9-5 general ‘- “ As he manager early 111 the new year. - O is several years over the age at Wlflch N he is entitled to retire at. his OM10“: we cannot do otherwise than comply,l as we have done with very genume Tegret. . Mr Callender has, in the course. of his l lfiity years’ work, occupied many im-1 poi-tan/c posts in the bank, including} that of chief auditor, and has rendered 1 to the bank most conscientious and‘ valuable service. He took up the posi— ~ tion of general manager on Ist April, 1907, so that when the time for his 1-cm-ement. arrives, he will have served nearly thirteen years in that capacity. Intimation of the approaching changes having been made in the press, it was necessary that I should refer to the matter and make these explanaticns. To succeed Mr Calleiider as general manager, the Board has selected ‘Mr Henry Buckleton, the bank’s present manager at Auckland. Mr Buckleton . has had a considerable and varied ex--perience in the bank’s service, and the wsifioard believe him -to be well qualified to fill the post. LAND SETTLEMENT AND PRICES. It is, I consider, imperative that avigorons policy of Sand’ rsattlement should be pursued in ./this Dominion. Tht State is doing excellent work in settling soldiers on the land, and some very satisfactory results have already been obtnarinxed. Some 1269 solfliers‘ '_ have, at 19th May (ultimo), been set- ’ .t]ed on «areas aggregating 553,520 acres, and further settlement is in progress. Extensive financial assistance has also been aiforded to many soldiers who are in need of such help. Something more, however, should be done. There is still a vast area of native land that is lying more or less idle and unproductive. The State should deal with this land on the principle embodied in the “Test Coast Settlement Reserves Act., 1892. Under that Ac‘: native lands in Taranaki are leased in suitable areas to farmers,'on'terms equitable to -both parties. The rentals are collected by the Public Trustee and disztributed to the natives. The Act has operated satisfactorily _I in Taranaki, and could easily be miade to’ apply to native lands in- otll'er_districts,, to the advantage of. the native owners and il:he benefit; of the people of New Zealand. Tire _[he_avy lobed, of gttaxation that thecountry has to bear as the result of the war makesit necessary that no means of increasing the earning power of "the country should be neglected The settlement of the vacant lands of the Dominion is one of the principal means by which that earning power can be most readily and expeditiously ~inere»ased., The country must produce ‘mere, so that its surplus for export ’will expand, if We are to meet our war burdens'satisfac.torily and maintain the country ’s progress and prosperity. But this land settlement and increased production will be impossible unless further facilities for transpcrt and coinmunic 1l'l()I1 are provide}. Tl:erefore,,roads, bridges, and railways become essential, and the country sl.c.uld endorse a comprehensive policy that will speedilysecure to the pioneers in settlement those necessary .. conven'!\"3l(‘,!‘S.

Owing to the present remunerative _prices of produce, due mainly to the ‘mar and -the )I1'll;I)C‘I‘l‘8.1 c,’onlman‘dcer, farmers are buying and selling improved lands at Very high prices. With four main markets 12,000 miles away, with new and forrnidable competitors in the field, with Europe impoverished tl:-rough the war, and peopl-e educated rto the use of substitutes, such as margarine, it is hardly possible that. -our dairy products can maintain their pres::',‘llt values when the Imperial commandeer ends. ‘What, then, will be the position of/chose who have paid high prices for land and burdened th.emselves with heavy mortgage charges? The value of any farm land must determined by what can be got out WIT it by a competent farmer, At present this is largely a matter of guesswork, and a farmer, with a biassed mind, may "easily persuade himself that jhe can obtain better results than the farmer who is selling. VVhat is primarily required as a guide to the real value of land is a more exact system of ‘farm book-keeping. No business can be Successfully carried on without a proper book-keeping system, and farming being a business,, is no exception t 0 the rule; but it is to be feared that at present farmers’ books, where kept at all, are by no means accurate, and of little use as an index to_ the value of the land the farmer is working, and therefore not entirely reliable as a, guide to his true financial position. The Qll9Stioll 055 proper methods of farming accountancy is engaging attention in other parts of the world, and it is ‘to be hoped that the outcome of the consideration that it is receiving will be the evolution of a satisfactory system by which the farmer will .be able to ascertain the true Tesuus of his operations, and to determine the true value of the land he is working or Azmay be proposing to purchase, " (Other portions of the Chairman '3 ad- . dress wili be published as spam} s 7 articles, they being of great and vital ' import owing to the authority with which he speaks.) -