CLOSING OF BANKS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 280, 23 November 1918, Page 5

CLOSING OF BANKS.

IS IT LEGAL 1 THE MEASURE QUESTIONED. PROPER NOTICE NOT GIVEN. The question has now been raised as to whether the closing of the banks was a legal measure in view of the fact that very short notice was given of the intention to close. According to the "Gazette" notice, which was published ;it the time this action wae taken, the shutting up of the banks wae carried out under the Bank Act of 1008, which lays down that at least ten days' notice shall be given. In view 'of this fact the president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Robert Burns, 6ent the following telegram to Mr. D. W. Duthie. chairman of the Associated Banks, Wellington:— "Looking at "Gazette" notice advising the closing of the banks, I note this morning that this is being done in pursuance of the Banks Act, 1908. Our solicitors advise that under this Act they can trace no power to close the banks without notice. Kindly advise us by telegram under what clause in this Act the banks have been closed." sjr. Duthie replied to this as follows* —"I have to "acknowledge receipt of your telegram. In reply to your inquiry. I have to state that the banks were closed under Government authority." "This is a distinct evasion of the point," Mr. Burns said to a "Star" reporter this morning. "We are advised that the banks cannot close without giving due notice under the Banks Act of 1908. which requires advertisement notices to be inserted three times, the first being not less than ten days before the time of the proposed closing. There ie no power in the Act permitting a variation of this clause, and the only method by which the Government could have legally carried out the measure was by doing it under the War Regulations as it stands. This they have not done, however, and we are advised that the action is illegal. The Mayor and myself have been in consultation regarding the matter, and we concur in thinking that it ie of the utmost importance to get business back into a normal condition. The banks, it is true, have been very obliging. They have stated that they are quite willing to open, and in a number of cases they have been receiving money on behalf of their clients and paying out on cheques so that tho wage-earner* will not suffer. This means that the banks are not really shut, and that the supposed benefit being derived from the measure is largely mythical. In fact, merely shutting the doors of the banks while business is being carried on is worse than lenving them open. I consider that a decided want of appreciation of the requirement* of the mercantile community has been shown by the general committee of the Associated Banks at Wellington. The banks are the only branch of tlie mercantile service to close down, all the other business concerns having carried on in epite of the difficulties of the situation." Another wire has been received by Mr. Burns from Sir Joseph Ward, as follows:—"I have conferred this morning wtfh the chairman of the Associated Banks concerning the representations you have made. The inconvenience is fully recognised, and if it could he obviated with safety throughout this Dominion, this would be done at once. But more than half tho bank staffs arc down with influenza, and the remainder could not carry out the duty required by the public even if they were called back. Deaths have occurred among the staffs of the banks even so late as yesterday, and The fii>t consideration nnifit be" the prevention of further loss of life, and of the spreading nf the disease. One institution cannot lie treated different!v from another, and it is well known that people frequenting public counters while suffering from influenza are a rerioue menace net only to depleted bank staffs but also to others making nee of banks. The ~nt™llerm of the banks innet be best able to judge of the position of their staffs, and I cannot see ray way during the endemic to force them against their judgment in a matter of such supreme importance as this is." This telegram wm described « unsatisfactory" by Mr. Bun*.