NEW ZEALAND LOAN AND MERCANTILE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4807, 24 August 1894, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND LOAN AND MERCANTILE.

In the' course,' of; an article on the'Now"Zealand Loau-:Sf||| and Mercantile" £gia£j Oompany, ; ■• London Some months''ago-on'iWth April,vHfl 1894,-we dealt fttlengthj with the||f| Reconstruction '.'■ just beousanctioned kyffl® Courfc;As||l and we; strongly;; advised Bhaw;sf|| holders, both on this side and in the-sf||| Colony, not onlyi'tiraccept but tonsil support it. At the same time we ;§|§i wrote considerable,. arid/ perhaps reasonable, doubt existed as to the;i?sl| amount of financial support' would be forthcoming. The Colony : 2ssl had been hard hit, and while obviousi that theshareholdera in §«| defunct Company; would welcome any scheme which promised;, Ysff to improve their position;'; great Vffj doubts existed, as.to the ability, at i: '§m any rate of .the' colonial shareholders, ■ %M to give.: effect. to their desk'es by;;'4tfl commensurate subscriptions. These .£ssl doubts have beeu effeotiially removed. <$M The Company expected the sjU||| scriptions to amounttp^^OO^^^H ■ theU^^^^^^^^^^H wero of in the waters, and n^^^^^^^^H > damaged in means oic^^^^^^^^l > the Baron stood aloof. i hand, he Com- ' i pany of .the'BankTof New' Zealand, i and now the New Zealand Govern- • ment, by vii'tuo of of its recont ni--1 rangement with the Bank,' pi actic- [ ally guarantees that transaction, > and adds, for what it may be ivoith, ■ the Government guarantee to the i existing securities. , So far, then, as the subscriptions , i are concerned, the reconstruction I scheme promises well, It starts with i a subscribed capital of, roughhx « • £620,000,-which will-no doubt bo ? I paid up. It has power to uiso f £250,000, and will thus have theu 5 command of; £BOO,OOO to 1 in the most liquid of all assets—- . hard cash, It. will bo the business of the now Company, which has no 3 obligations of any kind to meet, to i keep these assets liquid, and to 1 religiously avoid following (lie ex- i f ample of its predecessors..by not j b locking up its funds ;in plain and s fancy investments whiob, whatever ii general merits they may possess, i, were highly unprofitable in thp woik. ■ ing, and rigidly inconvertible in the o end. Tho time no doubt will como 0 when the; financing of estates 1 may once more be profitably indulged in tho colonies, but, foi this s Company at least, that timo has not _ i yet arrived, and its chief, eifoils for r 1 the present will undoubtedly bo coni, fined to dealing to the best advant' s ago with tho seourites it now holds, b It has, in fact, been called upon to Q take over a wreck, and make the 1 best of it. Another year or two - will clear the air, and show how and i' where assistance may most advant tageously bo given, either in start--8 ing new or assisting established ; b enterprises, j s At tho outset the Company is '% s rather embarrassed by the action of B Mr Justice Vaughan Williams in re--1 spect of the directors of tho old s Company, Whatever may have ■ been the demerits of the Mundella 8 Troupe tho Board of tho new Com--3 pany feel that their funds should" not be expended in furtherance of an object which is rather suggestive of mimw against the old; Board*''' than of sympathy witlf thq, share- •'' holders, who certainly, stand to gain ) nothing by the transaction, If jM, oldß,oardhavobeeuguiltypf fraud " as is suggested/and' if iiithe interesp 1 qf commercial morality it is consid: ered desirable to prosecute thorn, it 1 is fq» the Public Prosecutor to takfi • the niatter iin at thppnblicoxpense j s but it is obviously unfair to' force , tlie now OQmpany tq spenditsshaye: t holders' money in proceedings to ,~*f 1 which the shareholders themselves ' are strongly opposed, It certainly • is not in the.interestof tho new • Company, nor of colonial oredit that muddy water should be stirred l up unnecessarily, and J&cVtrifi bethe ■ 1 lino of 1 action, , . . Iu tho meantime, it • is satisfactory to noto that Sir John [ Hall, tho latoPreiuicr, who had been ,*» 6 a heavy loser by the old Loan and' ! Mercantile, has given proof of his ' confidence in tho now Company by resuming business with it, aud his ' example will no doubt bo generally | followed throughout the colonies, It ■ has no doubt not been overlooked by Sir Jplin'Hall that a clause in thq the. articles qf.fho ,ne\y Company ;■■;. 1 provides for.tluV absolute secu'ritv (A 1 goods consigned through tho Com.: pany. Competent and independent 1 inpji will lie sent but : to look into, i and report on the yaluo pf tho assets and properties taken qvev, and iUsgeneiw-understood that arrangements will bo mado with tl)9 Land Company to run. the two; concerns on identical lines, under one '■.;;. •management; the old staff, so far as i may be found possible or desirable, being retained.