BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

Waikato Argus, Volume VII, Issue 457, 6 July 1899, Page 4

BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

(by telegbaph—press association). Wellington, Tuesday. The balance sheet of the Bank of New Zealand was laid on the table of the House to-day. The liabilities sire shown »s follows : Capital: Four per cent, guaranteed stock, £2,000,000 ; preferre:l shares issued to Crown, £500,000 ; amount of ordinary capital paid to date under the Bank of New Zealand and Banking Act, 1895, £412,354 ; reserve fund, invested in New Zealand consols, £23,474 ; notes in circulation, £666,223 ; bills payable in circulation, £698,355. Deposits : £7,834,480 ; other liabilities, £164,627 ; bill discountable, £4768 ; balance of profit and loss, £50,000; total, £12,354.283. Assets : Coin and cash balance at banker's, £1,190,321 ; bullion on hand and in transit, £94,599 ; money at call and short notice bills receivable and securities in London, £1,803,395; investments in the colonies, £2,540,287 ; bills discounted, £1,613,911 ; other advances and securities and debts due to Bank, £4,025,235 ; estimated amount recoverable on account of first-call reserve liability, £425 ; landed property, premises, etc., £415,576. Bank of New Zealand Estates Company (Limited), assets in liquidation (book value), £455,063 ; Bank of New Zealand Estates Company (Limited), debenture conversion account (originally £68,445), £50,009 ; Colonial Bank property and premises (book va1ue),£95,457; Colonial Bank purchase, goodwill account (originally £75,000), £70,000; total, £12,354,283. The profit and loss account is as fol lows :—Balance of profits at March 31 1898, paid to Assets Realisation Board in terms of Bank of New Zealand and Banking Act, 1895, viz., £50,000 and £24,000 ; arrears to March 31, 1898, £74,900 ; 12 months' interest on guaranteed stock, £BO,OOO ; 12 months' divi- • dend to March 31, 1899, on preferred share capital, £17,500 ; amount written off Bank of New Zealand Estates Company (Limited), assets in liquidation, £30,617 ; amount written off Bank of New Zealand Estates Company, debenture conversion account, £8302 ; amount written ofi Colonial Bank purchase goodwill account, £5000; balance for year ended March 31, 1899, £50,000; total, £266,320. On the other side appears :—Balance from year ended March 31, 1898, £74,900 ; profits for year ended March 3J, 18P9 including recovories and after payment of and provision for all interest due and accrued on deposits *nd provision for bad and doubtful debts in current business, £379,331 ; less salaries and allowances, £116,358 ; directors' remuneration, £2375 ; general expenses, £41,731 ; audit expenses, £2725 ; rates and taxes, £20,220; compensation to late president, £4500 ; total, £187,911. This leaves £191,420, which, added to the £74,900, makes £266.320. The rewrve fund stands at £23,474. (Note.— Shillings and pence are omitted in foregoing figures).| ASSETS REALISATION BOARD. The balance-sheet of the Assets Realisation Board was laid on the table of the House to-day. It is as follows : Liabilities : Three and a-half per cent, debentures outstanding, £2,555,285; produce advance, sight drafts drawn against produce, £65,218; total, £2 620 503. Assets :' Stations, £1,637,807 ; freeholds, £409,720; other properties, £159,182 ; amount paid in excess of Mr Bean's valuation, £54,507 ; balance due by purchasers, £95,458 ; realisation adjustment account, £129,509 ; cash account, £49 ; suspense accounts, £1747 ; accrued revenue, £2054 ; Bank of New Zealand (including station overdrafts and credits), £29,295 ; produce consignment account, £64,855 ; profit and loss account, £45,313 ; total, £2,620,503. The profit and loss account shows that £9736 was paid for land tax, £4233 for general charges, £90,075 for interest on debentures. The net profit on stations was £42,841. The expenditure on account of properties was £2102. The Bank of New Zealand payments in terms of the Banking Act included in the statement are : Arrears 1896-97, £24,900 ; tor 1898, £50,000 A long list of prdperiftS realised "iSHrppentM. The - properties finally realised amount to £53,609, and properties partially realised to £65,909, a total of £119,519. The net surplus is almost identical with last year's. The general manager's report states that the working of station properties has been attended with very good results as compared with previous years. Tho Bank has made the statutory payment up to March 31, 1898, and the Board is informed that ifc has made provision for payment in due course of the £50,000 accrued due on March 31 last. The sales of properties finally closed March, 189598, including Rangiatea, and sales of stock' amounted to £274,160, and the deficiency on book cost, including realisation expenses, etc., was £106,953. The sales for the year ended March 31 last totalled £105,318. The manager states that, notwithstanding public criticism, good progress has been made with realisation, and no opportunities of placing properties have been missed. The sales in Auckland have amounted to £99,557 ; Canterbury, £115,621; Hawke's Bay, £2304; Otago, £56,067 ; Marlborough, £7869; Wellington, £65,350. For the balance-sheet of March 31st, the manager estimates the wool clip, which at that time was afloat and unrealised, to net about the same as the foregoing year. A decline in London, however, caused a deficiency on the estimate of £7365, which has had to be provided for at March 31st last. This, with the reclamations on frozen meat, etc., reduced the surplus on the year's working of the stations from £51,028 to £42,841. The manager states that the improvement in wool prices will be well appreciated in the current year's finance, for, as he valued the clips now coming into the London market on the basis of last year's realisations, he anticipated a very substantial surplus. Mr Foster concludes with a statement that the large area lately offering by the Government has affected the demand for all classes of country lands for sale, and has retarded business in this direction. There are, however, prospects of the sale of some of their blocks to the Land Purchase Board at fair prices. His object had been to bring them into the best condition for sale, and thia object was gradually being affected, the Waikato properties especially showing a marked improvement.

In every scheme of education there la a subject that should bo especially attended to. Two-thirda of the misfortunes which occur to us in life arise from our inability to say ‘ No,’ a disinclination which comes either from good nature or from weakness of character. Id every school and at every college there should be a professor in the art of saying ‘No,’ who should daily propound a number ot questions and teach his pupils to answer ‘No ’ to each of them with much decision and some brutality. The difference between one man and another consists principally in this power of being able to say ‘ No.’ Hundreds of thousands of lives are annually ruined which would have been prosperous had ‘No’ been substituted for ' Yes.’ Teach men and women to say 1 No,’ and you need not pass usury laws —you need not legislate to make the tendering of illicit commissions criminal; you might quadruple the wine and spirit licenses ; you would half-empty tho gaols ; and the Bankrupty Court would assuredly become bankrupt itself. *No ’ is the on’y word in the language which costs nothing; yet it is the one which the vast majority of men and women are the must reluctant to use.