Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1895. THE BANK CRISIS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5117, 30 August 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1895. THE BANK CRISIS.

. Now that the crisis is passing away and tension is relieved, we may exercise the usual Englishman's privilege, The Colonial Treasurer, in the debate on the difficulty, took up the position, first, that failing the carrying of the Hill recommended by the Committee, the Hank would collapse, and secondly, that if it did collapse, there would to a general panic throughout the Colony. .Doth theso views appear to us lo have been exaggerated and unwarranted, and merely (o have been brought forward as bogies to frighten people lo support a measure which meant to a very considerable extent, the salvation of the Government as well as of the Bank. We hold thatj Parliament was pledged to help the Bank, but there has been no obligation to misrepresent the true facts of the ease. The truth, the whole truth and nothing'but the truth, in some respects seems still to bo almost as far away as ever. "We havo told yon everything," says the Premier, " You see every card in our hands" cries the Treasurer, bat wo feel still that everything has not been revealed, that there is a card up someone's sleeve, and that still wc are somewhat' in tlio dark, From tho first wo did not recogniso. tlio necessity of the complicated rcconir mendations in the report, nor do wo believe that the Bank would necessarily havo collapsed if it had iiot been aided by Parliament. It has the Government two millions at its back and a million of uncalled capital, and wero it free to act for itself it mi"ht retrieve its own fortunes. But there, are political shackles upon it which are almost as IcWrooß to its progress as

the Estates Conipany. The loosening of those shackles would have beon bettor for the Bank than tlio forging of now fetters. Again if the Bfluk had beon compelled to go into liquidation there would be but a comparatively small financial crisis in tlio Colony. Other bauks have been putting their houses in order for somo time past and havo taken in sail in anticipation of the present storm. The country is prepared for the misfortune of which the Government express so great an apprehension, We did not ourselves believe that there would necessarily be a collapse of the Bank even though Parliament refused to pass tlio Bill, and if the collapse did come about the effect of it upon the Colony would not have been disastrous to the extent predicted by the Government. The v/hole nll'nir has been a sickening experience which has reflected but little credit on the Colony. As tacticians, Messrs Seddon and Ward arc unrivalled, In this difficulty, they called in the aid of the Opposition to defeat members of their own party, and thus have,saved the Bank and saved themselves also. But when we say they saved the Bank it must be borne in mind that they helped to put it in the holo from which they have extricatedit. However, when wo find men like Mr Buchanan voting for the Bill, we can safely conic to theconclusion that as the solution of adiHicult problem, it was the lesser of two evils.