The Westport Times. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1872.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 1025, 26 November 1872, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1872.

'The general statement of bank affairs in New Zealand for tho quarter ending September last, as set forth in a •late Gazette, bears iucontestible evidence of the amount of capital accumulating for want of present profitable investment. This unaccustomed turn of the money market, although tending to temporary inconvenience an its effect on bank profits, and the transactions of societies and assoeiadependiug for financial success upon steady realisation of l.igh rates of interest, cannot prove an unqualified evil. If all the u.-mal channels of investment were closed, there never could be, in a country like New Zealand, any difficulty experienced in i' iding new outlets and untrodden Melds tor legitimate speculation. We have .not that outlet for redundant capital possessed by our Australian cousins, in the permanent settlement of thousands of" miles of additional territory, but our goldfields and our coalfields afford openings that practically offer an almost inexhaustible field for the profitable investment of money and the exercise of public enterp-rise. The auriferous, q-xartz, and alluvial insnes, and the coal deposits upon the West Coast alone, which can never be fully utilized and developed except by a judiciously 1 beral outlay of money upon tho construction of reservoirs, water-races, roads, and railways, present au instant field for legitimate speculation And not alone here, but in every part of New Zealand virgin soil may bo found for tho very wide extension of commerce, and the profitable' expansion of industries that hr.re hitherto languished for want of fostering cure or liberal monetary outlay. Tte fact tk it money alone is needed to make New Zealand ono of the most prosperous coloaies of the British realm is so Belf-evident that any comment or argument thereon is

superfluous. The official statement of tacts and figure?, while proving that banking as an institution in New Zealand flourishes on a perfectly sound financial basis and that the colony prospers, also proves the daily increasing necessity for a wide departure from the accustomed routine of monetary transactions which heretofore has checked and hampered legitimate speculation. Of the five banks doing business in the colony the united liabilities, ou the 30th of September last, amounted to £l,O-17,022 ; made up as follows, notes in circulation, £(335,081; bills in circulation, ,£35,90;); balance due to other banks, £22.110 ; Government deposits, £u.'33,517 ; deposit not bearing interest, £1,919.277 ; deposits biasing interest, £1,308,092. The total assets of the banks amount to £5,310,728 ; being in coin, £1,030,510; bullion, £211,501; notes of other banks, £13,230; balances due from banks, £13,505 ; landed property, £150.001; notes and bills discounted, £1,530,720; Colonial Government securities,£2ls,U3; debts,£l,7ll,Ss7; miscellaneous securities, £331,805. The balance of assets over liabilities amounts to £1,099,700, and is divided as follows :—-Bank of New Zealand, £231,059; Union Bank, £3107 ; Bank of New South Wales, .£70,893 ; Bauk of Australasia, £01,209; Bank of Ota«o, £227.078. The coined and uncoined bullion in the possession of the various banks is stated tints: Bank of New Zealand, £191,252'; Union Bank of Australia, £307.257; Bank of New South Wales, £331,813 ; Bank of Australasia, £101,832 ; Bank of Otago, £73,080. The money lying comparatively idle in the banks as deposits not bearing interest amounts, as before noted, to nearly two millions, and of this close on one million is in keeping of the Bank of New Zealand. Of deposits bearing interest the respective amounts lodged with the various banks are—Bank of Now Zealand, £499,727 ; Union Bank of Australia, £123.100 ; Bank of New South Wales, £289,003, out of a total of £1,308,000. The liabilities of the various banks stand as follows :—Bank of New Zealand, £2,325.020 ; Union Bank, £1,015,505; Bank of New South Wales, £707,555; Bank of A ustralasia, £370,050 ; Bank of Otago, £22i,275. The total reserve funds amount in the aggregate to £1,359,215. The profit account tables show payment of dividends equal to the following rate3 —Bank of New Zealand, 15 per cent per annum; Union Bank 13 per cent; Bank of New South Wales, 12£ per cent; Bank of Australasia, 10 par cent; Bank of Otago, 2 per cent. The foregoing figures sufficiently indicate that ample resources may be readily released for investment in new cvnrl profitable enterprises, without for accommodation.