SPO TREASURER IN EXPLANATION.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9157, 15 July 1895, Page 2

SPO TREASURER IN EXPLANATION.

OPINIONS OF THE WELLINGTON PRESS.

By Tklegbath,

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT). WELLINGTON, July 14. There is a general expression of opinion that the Treasurer made but a sorry explanation of his London utterance as to the alleged three millions of •• unpledged '' securities, as also of the remarkable statements contained in the circular of the AgentGeneral. The Ministerial journal, in the course of aa article on the subject, saya :— The one] important point in the attack stands our, distinct from the farrago of rubbish which was so mercilessly exposed. All the rubbish is not worth discussing. The important point is as to the position of the securities iv London. Are they available for emergencies or are they not ? That ia the question. Every banker, to judge by the universal practice of bankers, will say at once that they arc. The Post in its remarks on the question of the securities says:—Last night Mr Ward varied the London statement by using word " pleugable " instead of " unpledged. This was done with * purpose. The difference is so important as to be vital. A security payable to bearer is " pledgable " in the hands of even an unlawful possessor all the securities of the kind deposited with a Bank by its customers are "pledgable" by the Bank for its own purposes, if it chooses to violate the trust reposed iv it by its customers. Tins is precisely the position of the Government in regard to the alleged " pledgable "securities. They are held in trust by trustee* or custodians more or less amenable to the control of the Ministers. They nave been acquired out of Trust funds, and are held as against those funds, bo that in ease of necessity the trust moueys could be repaid. Let us take tha Post Ofii<;e insurance aud Public Truet securities, which make up Mr 'Ward's •• pledgable " securities. Section 77 of the Public Revenues Act, 1391, authorises the investment of the fuude of the institutions in approved securities, and provides that " all such Eecurities shall be kept under threo keys, in the custody of such persons as the Governor-in-Council ehall appoint in respect of each such account severally." The securities are thus specifically pledged and given into the custody of trustees for the depositors as against the amounts deposited. The custodians of the Post Office eecurities in London for instance, are the Agent-General, Mr W. Kennaway, and Mr C. W. Palliser. It was certainly never contemplated by the Legislature that these securities could, at the will of the 3overnment of the day, be used to pay the interest on the public debt, or to eke out the revenue. Yet the Minister of Labour last night stated distinctly that they could and would, in case of necessity, be bo used. Tney are pledged as security to the depositors in the colony; bub Mr Ward and his colleagues have the audacity to maintain that they are " pledgable" again in London for uees unconnected in any way with the truet upon which they are held. It is a pure case of thimble-rigging, an Attempted justification of the misappropriation of trust funds. If any Minister attempted bo to deal with private trust moneys over which he had control, he would be liable to prosecution and penal servitude. If he attempted to put forward such a defence as that urged last night, the Judge would tell him he was aggravating bis offence and earning an increase of punishment.