THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3816, 22 March 1881, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1881.

The actual position of bur banking j institutions is attracting considerable! attention at tne present time throughout the colony. The Press is taking the question up, and \ already several journals have given introductory articles upon the subject. The present is, with-: out doubt, the proper time to discnss the subject, not when it is too late, and the: results of over-trading and want of forethought in management is working ruination upon the nation. Like private persons, bants and trading associations are often led away by having too much money at command—prosperity hiding from view the possibility of a day when a change may come over the spirit of the^dream. In this colony the inducements to over speculate have been greater than in most others; the ,rapid advance in the price of land, the apparent prosperity induced by the construction^ of railways and other public works, and the expenditure of large sums of , public money, have caused fortunes to be, amassed in a very few years, and- crowned with success the specuiatfdns of men' in many instances trading upon borrowed money. Success carries a charm 1 with it that leads the lucky'man 'tp venture again, and repeated successes often in the end cause less care caution to be exercised, and more reliance placed: upon, luck and favorable circumstances. Institutions formed for.trading purposes, as Banks, Mercantile Agencies, and such like are but'little wiser in such matters than private individuals, and the causes that blind the lucky speculator have a somewhat similar effect upon the Boards of Directors and managers. In-NewZealand the success which has attended the Bank of New Zealand, the Mercantile Agency; and New Zealand Insurance Company,.]ed to the establishment of other institutions of a similar . character,; and up to ; the present, profit has resulted i' from the i operations of such corporations, and the shareholders ! have been' gratified with large dividends. . Now,.. however, the more thoughtful, of the shareholders and, the public generally are beginning to look below the surface, and ask, with the experience of the last 18 months, during the time of the

temporary depression, how it was'that the banks and companies felt the pressure of bad times so much, and how it was that the funds; in reserve specially provided for cases' of emergency, were.' not. able. to equalise the strain between demand and supply ? A member of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce" said at a late meeting that the cause of the depression felt in New Zealand ;was ,the demands of ' the Banks, who had. compelled the people to fork out within the last IB months over £3,000,000 of money, The demand upon the banks was simply, more than they could meet; their money was all. out;• they were trading to the limit, or beyond it, of, their capital •. • : and' those to whom the money was lent had to-repay it, no matter at what' loss, or; risk to themsel ves^.. as their masters (the bank) wanted money. A clear case of overtrading on the part of all concerned : the bank lending more money than they should, or could well spare, and the public, seeing and taking advantage . of the facilities for getting money, were induced to enter upon speculations that with less inducement they would not have ventured upon. This system went on well, for all parties till a day arrived when one of those concerned wanted their money back, and were not to be put off, the consequence to the ■borrowers being that they were forced to realise, and in most cases at a loss. T;he result of this action, was felt from one end of the colony to the other, and, tof course, had its effect upon general ■trade in ,all its branches. We shall continue the subject in a future article.

[At, a meeting of the Harbour. Board Committee yesterday afternoon tenders for various* rights and services were opened as under : — Toll collector, etc.,JR. B. Scbofield, £90 per annum (acceptedj ; T. E. Graham, £86 ; W. Smith, £100; W. McPeake, £114; A. Unthank, .£l6oi Silt; Works : A. Butler, £36''7s 9d (accepted) ;' Jan.' Clarke, £48. Repair of Goods Wharf: A. Butler, £70 ;G. 'W\ Horn, £13 ;J. Punch, £126. The acceptance of this tender was deferred until next •meeting. Shortland goods shed: North Shore ! Ferry Company,'£77 (accepted) ; Fraser and Tinne, £65 (informal) ; Thames Steam Navi'gatibtf Company, £26. Lease of Sbortland icoal yard:: M. Casey, £13. It was resqlved, not fcq accept this tender, it being too,low. Ik another column appears a synopsis of Major Atkinson?s speech to his constituents, *\ . We are informed that Mr Cuff has been sent for to attend the Native Lands Court at Gisborne. We understand that the title to a I large and valuable block of land, which has 'been in the occupation of Mr Cuff for some | years, is being investigated by the Court. It is now^r .Cuff's business to obtain a marketable title to this property. •' Wos. 1 and 2 companies of the the Thames | Scottish 'have been drilling continuously together of late, in order to fit themselves for ( the fiold.day and revieAv in; Waikato,, to take place,, in ,as week or two. From enquiries instituted by, Captains Coni6r and Watßou, it is considered probable that the total muster'

of the two companies will reach, if it does not exceed, 150 of all ranks. We believe Major Murray is desirous of ascertaining at an early date, the number and strength of the Thames Corps, intending to participate.

■ Fob two, long weary years the constitutional struggle has' raged in Victoria. Men of all shades of opinion on the burning question of Reform have come to the surface, only to be knocked down and replaced by some other idol. Parliaments have mot, talked, and been dissolved without any practical result, until the present, when some glimmerings of political peace are becoming visible. The most recent phase of the struggle, as our readers know, is the Bill introduced by the present Ministry, which up to now has excited moßt virulent opposition. The Government is strong, however, and are determined, so that we are not surprised to read of the Opposition throwing up the sponge. Mr Berry and his colleagues have done their beat to make,the measure acceptable to the Upper House, and hy them it will probably be adopted. :

. Thb following table—extracted from the Registrar General's report on the vital statis. tics of the undermentioned Boroughs for the month of February, 1881 —gives the population, number of births and deaths, arid proportion of deaths to the 1000 of population of each borough :—

The total births in the above boroughs amounted to 400, against 439 in January, being a decrease of 39. The deaths amounted to 162 in February, aa increase of 8 on January. Of the above deaths males contributed 92, females 70. 101 of the deaths were of children under five years ot age being 62*25 per cent, of the whole number. 91 of these were of children one year of age. The five representatives of Wanganui Rifles who won the Companies' Trophy at Nelson, were challenged by another team of five chosen from the same corps, the match to be under the same conditions as at Nelson. The match came off, and resulted in a victory for the second team. The Nelson representatives scored 418, the second team scored 447, or seven pointß more than the winning score at Nelson. It is rumoured that Mr Gladstone is about to resign the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, and that he will be succeeded by Mr Childers, while the Marquis of Hartington will succeed Mr Childers as Secretary of War, Mr Gladstone will continue to hold the office of First Lord of the Treasury. The. following-is the State of Sick at the Thames Goldfield Hospital from 13th to 19th March, 1881:— Statistical Nosology — Zymotic Diseases —remained 2, discharged 0, remaining 2; Constitutional —remained 1, adtoitted 1, remaining 2;. Local —remained ;f\ admitted 1, discharged 1, remaining 6; Violent —remained 5, discharged 1, remaining 4.—Total, remained 14, admitted 2, discharged 2, died 0, remaining 14. Out Patients, 34. —Thomas Aitjjen, Dispenser.

BoKOUGII. Auckland .. Wellington.. Christchurch Dunedin Thames .... Napier...... Wanganui .. Nelson Sydenham .. Lyttelton .. Timaru .... Oamaru .... Hokitika. .. Cayersham.. Invercargill.. Estimated Population. 15,022 21,582 15,15(3 23,950 5,814 6,650 4,163 6,804 7,796 3,653 3,791 5,098 2.66S 3,756 4,283 • :• Total Births. 43 65 45 57 14 22 12 15 34 20 14 27 12 6 14 Total Deaths. 16 m 17 21 2 4 1 12 14 13 . 7 10 6 2 2 Proportion of Deaths to 1000 of population. 1-07 1-67 112 o-ss 0-34 0-45 0-24 1-76 1-80 3-56 1-85 1-96 2-25 0-53 0-47 T0ta1.... 400 I 102 - i • •