AN EX B. N. Z. MANAGER'S DEFENCE. SOME DISQUIETING ASSERTIONS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 310, 24 October 1888, Page 2

AN EX B. N. Z. MANAGER'S DEFENCE. SOME DISQUIETING ASSERTIONS.

Henry Law, late manager of the Bank of New Zealand at Adelaide, writes a long letter to the Star defending his conduct as manager and upholdine; 1 the position assumed by him at the Bank meeting yesterday. In the course of the letter Mr Law says : " While I was in a fair and manly spirit entitled to an investigation by the Board, 1 could barely expect shareholders to have received at yesterday's meeting more than a general statement, but when my name is publicly traduced by a Judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, I think it is time to step forward and let both he and his associates know that my character is a sacred domain, upon which no man can cast a blot except through some act of my own ; that my blood is not ditchwater, to be ruthlessly handled, and that when they choose unnecessarily to so invade my reputation, they cross swords with one who is not afraid either of the din of battle or marks of war. With reference to the statement contained in this morning's Herald that <My general bearing and utterances at the Bank of New Zealand meeting demonstrated that I was not a fit man to he entrusted with the control of a Bank in an important place like Adelaide, I have simply to state that I have instructed my solicitors, Messrs Hesketh and Richmond, to take immediate proceedings against the proprietors of the Herald for same. I have also instructed them to make application to the Bank for a return of all items subscribed by me to the Bank's guarantee fund since 1875. This they cannot give, but itwil enable me in after proceedings to completely unveil circumstances surrounding my resignation in July, 1886. Mr Law proceeds to argue that under Clause 118 of the Deed of {Settlement, the Bank is hound to go into liquidation unless the vote of three fourths of the paid-up capital should resolve to continue business and write off losses from the capital. MrS. Hesketh has given legal opinion supporting this view and also favouring Mr Lnw's contention that Mr Buckley's appointment as director is invalid, and the proceedings at the recent Bank meetings consequently irregular.