THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND AND MR BUCKLEY.

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

THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND AND MR BUCKLEY.

•'■ " TO THB EDITOR OF THB PRESS. ' ' Sot,—lv view of the effect whfch.Uie Sroceedings at the Bank of New Zealand's nnual meeting may have, not qnftr on the Bank itself but on the colony at large, It need scarcely cause surprise if the singular character of tbe late President's speech, as reported in your issue of this morning, should occasion some severe strictures to be passed upon his conduct. Mr B-ukley took exception " to tiie 83, a whole,' as not being a fair and. correct statement of the liabilities and assets pf the Bank, as there were losses and den* cieneies of long standing which were not provided fpr." What amount of confidence is to be placed in Mr Buckley/a statement may best be judged by reviewing his connection with the Bank,' Last year Mr Buckley was appointed a member of the Shareholders' Committee for tne purpose of inquiring Into the Bank's position, How prominent a member he was maybe imagined from Major.Qeorge's statement at yesterday's meeting that Mr Buckley seized two-fifths of the honorarium—the honorarium, I presume, accorded to the Investigating Committee. At all events, although Judge Gillies was nominally Chairman of this Committee. Mr Buckley was unquestionably its head and front, and was believed to have .taken an extremely active part in conducting an Investigation, which, from his recognised ability as an accountant, we may,fairly assume to have been of the moat minute and searching character. That it was" so in Mr Buckley's own estimation is evident from his words and actions when President of tbe Bank after the Commlfcteefs report waa presented. So fully satisfied does he appear to have been, with,.the Bank's revised position that be bad no hesitation in being a party to the issue pf 50,000 new shares, representing an. additional paid-up capital of £423,000. pa Mr Buckley, therefore, rests a- heavy responsibility to the public, whom he took into his confidence, and, by vouching/lor the accuracy of the Committee's figures, was instrumental in inducing to take an the new issue freely. There is no call $o Impugn the accuracy of these figures, and Mr Buckley's own subsequent policy served to confirm them. It is possible that be migH in the first instance have been misled by the Bank officials through the so-callid inaccuracy and untruatwprthlnessof.tle returns sent in to the Investigating Committee. Such an accusation, however, at this time of day bears on the face of it the aspect of a splenetic after thought. The fact that the Committee were "not bound down to any unreasonably sheet time for bringing in the report, and-Jl4d the amplest possible means at their disposal for making it full and accurate, would imply inexcusable negligence on Mr Buckley's, part if his present contention were correct, and throw discredit on that enormous capacity for dealing with figures which he has been supposed- to Etssess. Further, on Mr Buckley aa-nnfe-g the reins of office he had abundant And. varied opportunities of verifying ,jmt correcting his former conclusions.- Hie was ho wooden figurehead Chairmanship, but an autocratic rule. If Kllig Log reigned before. King Stork governed-how, and it is said that Presidentship, Chairmanship. Managing Directorship-Tit., not practically General Managership also— were all embodied in Mr Buckley. Nothing of importance, it may be presumed therefore, could well be done without his sanction and supervision, nor could the Bank's policy be directed towards/any particular line of action without his cognizance. Having enjoyed this position during the half-year ending 80th April last, and for some time previously, he must have been at that date thoroughly qualified to amend or modify the estimate he; had formed before entering upon it. * there anything in his recorded address at the half-yearly general meeting on 80tb April to indicate bis having repentect the confidence he had placed in his prevldifs estimate, or to prepare one for fchep«islmistie view he now professes to take of the Bank's position t Nothing of the sect; quite the contrary. Everything, infactt waa painted more or leas couleur de rose, and ft may be supposed that this sunshiny view of the aspect of aflalrs was {lefts owing to Mr Buckley's genial and faopef el temperament than to his confidence |a actual Saota—a eosM-nee apparently _s_.

warped at that time by counter irritations or Interior motives." His address contained suchr expressions as the following, which, if there is any trust to be placed in Mr Buckley, we are surely entitled to regard as embodying his deliberate views:— »* We may congratulate ourselves on tbe amount of profit earned during the half-year. . . The Signs of returning prosperity to which I was able to refer at our last meeting have since become more pronounced. . . Yep will doubtless agree that lam justified in taking a confident view of the _usre. Jtrßuckley's autocratic rule seems, apweter.to have at last proved too much nc his colleagues, and whilst the majority of Us co-directors desired, in the true interests of the Bank, to "let the dead past bury its dead," Mr Buckley appears to have wished its ashes to be raked up. About this time, whether precedent to, « consequent on. these differences in the sosxd, Mr Buckley, in spite of all hisPUbtte utterances, commences to sellout the bulk of his shares and of those owned by his co-Director and brother-in-law, Mr Mcljjftan, and moves at tbe Board that a transfer to the Sydney register should be authorised. Was or was not Mr Buckley aware of the impropriety, if not the Illegality, of such a transfer, and wherein did tills attempt on his part differ from a similar improper proceeding on the part of the old Board in the matter of a tpsnsfer of shares to the London register, which he had reprehended in the strongest terms at a general meeting last year? Having unloaded to confiding investors shares which he believed, according to bis own present showing, from sources of knowledge private to himself as a Director, to be greatly over-valued, and having practically deserted the Bank, from what motives I leave the public to judge, but retaining just sufficient s hirst to qualify for attending tbe annual meeting, he appears there to. have vilified the institution In a -afhlan the most amazing when contrasted with his formerly expressed opinions. First of all Mr Buckley Is trusted by the shareholders to Investigate the Bank's accounts; later on he Is appointed President; after what the public had a dght to assume to have been an exhaustive examination, he is instrumental in patting forward a report which has the rffect of restoring confidence in the institution, and in inducing the public to take up a new issue of shares; after presiding Over the Bank's affairs for the best part of a year, he addresses the shareholders with congratulations on its position and 9_*spects, and yet before another halff early meeting has come round he takes umbrage at his colleagues, sells all his •hares but five, and then, but not till then, bitterly assails the institution which, _y all known laws of commercial honor, »« was bound to defend and support. Surely the public will hesitate before acseptlng the guidance of one who, by his own showing, has proved himself so untrustworthy a pilot and so unstable an adviser.—.Tours, &c, .: Geo. G. Stead. Christchurch, October 25th, 1889.