THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7451, 26 October 1889, Page 5

THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

[r-txas association ___~-OH-__-_ ATJCKLAND, October m\~\ The following resolution was agreed $1 at' the mestinj. of the shareholders of ! th« Bank of New Zealand yesterday t—"TJ__i under, all the circumstances the informetion given by the Board of Directors' is considered sufficiently full.**

4 ' ' [FROM OUB COBRSSPOND__rr.I AUCKLAND, Ootober 2fiv The Herald to-day sayß :—" The recent meetings of the proprietors of the Bank of New Zealand have been interesting, and gometimes sensational; but the proceedings which took place at the half-yearly gathering of the shareholders yesterday are unique in the history of the institution. Language of tbe plaiuesc kind-was used denouncing the action of the late President, and it must be said, thai; the feeling of the meeting was very markedly adverse to that gentleman. The report of the Directors was satisfactory enough in its way, though, aa the Chairn_an remarked in his speech, it is nothing very brilliant. The feature of moac prominent interest to the shareholders and the public in Auckland is unquestionably, the proposal to remove the directorate and/-he principal office of the Bank to London* a proposal which, we are sure, all those present at the meeting except, we presume, Mr Buckley, heard with deep regret. The Bank was established m Auckland, and has been managed from this city throughout, it may be said, the lifetime of the colony. It has been identiiied with New Zealand in all its vicissitudes, and has been looked upon with patriotic pride, even by colonists who bad ■•' no direct interest in it. Though the colonists and the citizens of Auckland in particular will regret the change it has become so obviously imperative that we believe almost universal assent will be given to it. We understand that it ia not a movement which the Directors.in Lptuloa hare themselves pressed for, tnough it io one of whioh they approve, and which'they are prepared to suppoit. It may be said, indeed, that the publio and private fln-AiAt-j Salicy of the colony have constituted ondon in some respects the mcnetary capital of New Zealand, and there; need not be a doubt that a judicious London Board, recognising that the prosperity of the Bank depends upon .the development of its colonial businesswill show due regard for■• eO-O-da. interests and requirement, and will permit the necessary latitude, to local acuuiniatration. Then again Directors, are* obtainable in London of a standing far superior to that of any whioh a town like Auckland can supply. We agree with the Directors that the time has not yet come feu: a, fresh valuati n of globo accounts, and that it ia unreasonable to adduce the result attained so far as the criterion of how complete realisation will turn out. Within the last few months the entire aspect of affairs in the colony has changed greatly'-for the better. Good prices are bemgobtamtd for aU the chief products of the colony, exports are increasing and so is settlement. It cannot be doubted that a period of prosperity will sooner or later supervenfe, and at such period the realisation ol these properties' will be accomplished with rabidity and with * returns satisfactory to a degree which/after' : iso long a period of depression, it is*" difficult to realise. We cannot think that;; "Mr Buckley will be borne out in hie honZ tention that the Shareholders* Committee were merely a medium for convening |o the 'shareholders'the- estimates of/the Bank officials and the : experts whom they employed to value the Bank's assets. The. impressions. ~of those : who took up shares upon their recommendation was that they had made a real investigation and had. tested in soma reasonably sufficient degree the acquracy of these estimates, though possiblytney, aa well as the officials who reported on the Bank's assets, may have been somewhat too sanguine. At the meeting It was! certify shown that Mr Buckley was rather lat£su the day ia making ius so-called 'f, revelations,' apd he would have stood, Bigger in the estimation of the shareholders t )_ad %a made them before he sold his share-,". ..