The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUG. 29, 1905. THE COLONIAL BANK'S AFFAIRS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7911, 29 August 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUG. 29, 1905. THE COLONIAL BANK'S AFFAIRS

, . Ire discussion which took place in the Legislative Council, and also in the House last week, on the report of tire Public Petitions Committee,j which recommended that the investi- ' nation asked for by certain shareholders and contributarics of the defunct Colonial Bank concrning the lots - of £355,000 of the shareholders' capital should be made, revived a subject which, though of much import to hose chiefly concerned, would, in the interest of the colony as a whole, have far better remained amongst the unfortunate tilings which it is wiser to blot out of memory. In the Council, on the motion of the Hon. J. Jcnkinson to refer the petition to the Government for consideration was, after some discussion, carried by 23 to 6, but in the House the debate was interrupted by the afternoon adjournment. Judging [torn the tenor of the debate, the result will probably be that matters will nmain as they are- There is no question, however, that the shareholders have suffered, but the unfortunate part of the case is that the money is gone beyond recall. Mr Herdman pointed out that the last balancesheet of the Bank showed the funds as £!(i5,W, but the liquidation yielded only £IIO,OOO. The deficit is so large that the question naturally ..rises as to what became oi the difference, and it is with a view ol us certaining informal i n uu litis that the inquiry is asked for. Mr | Seddon did not hesitate to saddle ti.e Hank of New Zealand with the responsibility for the shortage, as he considered that a good deal of the Colonial Bank's capital disappeared when the arrangement was made between the two banks. He Went ftiriher, and said that "if in rcsp.;ct to a large number of the accounts the directors of the Bank of New Zealand had been dealing with their own ca|.i tal, they would have dealt with it very differently. They were libeial in the extreme in dealing with some of these accounts, lie thought he Was tight in saying that had the Colonial Bank not made tlie agreement it did with the Bank of Xew Zealand, ajjd carried on its own business, there would have been no necessity for the investigation asked for, and tliij great loss of capital would not have taken plate."' The fact that ll,u Court had dissolved ihr Jiank, and that only the records were" left /jops not allord much scope for an inquiry, however hardly the case may alfic; the shareholders. Practically the Government, though sympathetic, are powerless, and an inquiry would Le absolutely useless, besides, being a waste of money. Ten years have elapsed since the Winding up of the Bank, and it would seem hopeless to expect that the missing capital could be unearthed by any such means. The opinion expressed |'>y the Hon. G McLean that the Bank of New Zealaird would he only doing the right thing if it were to make the shareholders a present of £IOO,OOO is hardly likely to I e acted on, nor do v,v think that lie meant it seriously. 'I he Bank of New Zealand has its own quota of unfortunate shareholders, not a lew of whom were ruined by the disaster which overtook that Bank, owing to the heavy calls in respect of shares which Were eventually forfeited, and have latply been sold to great advantage. The tirst duty of the Bank of New Zealand in connection with making a present to shareholders! should, in all justice, be ditected towards their own share- • holders. There Is, however, not the i' remotest probability of such a tardy 'j jact of justice being dealt out to ei- j] tlier class of victims of reckless.' 'management. History will doubtless ! record the sorry episode which is now | best relegated ty oblivion.