The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MAY 12, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 157, 12 May 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MAY 12, 1879.

The usual quarterly Bank returns of this colony have just been published. We do not intend to worry our readers with the long and complicated masses of pounds, shillings, and pence which constitute them, and which, may be said to be intelligible only to experts, We do not pretend even to be an expert ourselves; but still, with a little trouble, it is possible to comprehend somewhat, in round numbers,; how much money there is in the colony, and who holds it, In our little statement we shall not allude to shillings, much less to pence. We shall soar above hundreds of pounds, and not make even thousands our unit, feeling certain that unless we stick to millions we shall be unable to make our readers understand the little that we have been able to pick up ourselves. The Banks in the colony are six in number, and between them they possess a capital of five millions, a reserve fund of two millions, and a note issue of one million, making their genuine resources seven millions, or, for all practical purposes, counting the bank notes as money, eight millions. The amount they lend out to the public may be roughly stated at fifteen millions, and as they have but eight of their own to trade with, and must keep a large portion of the eight in hand, it is evident that the Banks must borrow before they can lend. In the shape of deposits this is accomplished, The Banks hold something like ten millions of other peoples'money, one million of which may be classed as Government money, and the other nine representing the wealth of New Zealand colonists. With ten millions borrowed and their own eight millions, the Banks get the command of eighteen millions, and out of this eighteen millions they lend the public fifteen and are keeping three in hand for contingencies. The three in hand consist of two millions in gold, silver, and copper, and one million in notes. Of course, these figures are all approximations, but they enable one to roughly grasp the pulse of our money market. We assume that there is in the colony some sixteen millions of sterling money —a smaller sum than the New Zealand national debt amounts to, but possibly a fair equivalent to sums brought into the country by private individuals, New Zealand evidently sends out her money as fast, if not faster, than it comes in, If she gets a million in one year out of England, she sends another one back to it during the same period. When the value of her exports falls and the value of her imports keep up, as has been the case latterly, it is pretty evident that money must bo drained out of the colony, and the Banks do not keep very much in hand to supply such a demand. At such a time the Banks have the delicate and diilicult task of calling in their advances without, if possible, disturbing their deposits. The tendency of calling in advancesisto create a vacuum.. Depositors fill this vacuum by withdrawing deposits, and a Bank, if it does not walk carefully, is apt to have to pay out as much as it gets in, At such a time it is an advantage if the vacuum which exists in the money market can be relieved either by the Banks introducing more capital into the colony or by the Government obtaining a loan. In either case the public have to pay for the accommodation, and unless the advance can be made reproductive, it will be ultimately a loss rather than a gain to the community.