THE AGENT-GENERAL'S ARITHMETIC.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11547, 1 April 1903, Page 6

THE AGENT-GENERAL'S ARITHMETIC.

Wβ mentioned recently that in the prof pectus of "The Loan that Failed, ,, Mr. W. P. Reeves gave a Jieb of the "snrpluses" for a number of years past, by tray of showing the prosperity of the colony, and we expressed our satisfaction tint he . had not on this occasion counted thw 7

twice over by including in each surplus the balanc from the previous j«-«r. It did not occur 10 us at the lime <" ilt ll mi £ bt be desirable to check Mr. Keeves's inures to see whether they were correctly stated or tot. We regret to find on further examination thai, the table in question cori- ! tains soiii- 1 irnxf. iiiaecur.K-ies. tint if tv w v if tiit- 1i...'.!i i-s i-'iU'n by Mr. Seddon a:l 'd Sir .1...-,;.1i W:;r<l in the uijucity i.f Colmikil 'iici.-riiMr. ate :•> ht tak-rii ;<s . onvct. W.- t'.vc- 1.,-low die iii.,crfl«in;if'N which Lave tuiiu- umkr our BOiice : — SL'KPLUS ijP I'.EV'N'L't OVKII KXi'i-::."ua'L'HE. Aopcp;.:.;.' to As stiit-id 1-y ilr K.vves Col. Treiuuier. 16SC-: i.-J.N-,ViS JZI.I6.TX> 1897-8 £!MB.".S £ICC.fo.-i liXH-2 i'23G.a25 £-237.921 In other words, Mr. Ettves has over-stau-d tbii total aurplutste fur the three years named by no l«a than £469,004. In two ousts it jjotina probotbUj that thy printer iud lx?n ut Unit. Bus. surely the printer ouviil not to have been kit to his own fWeet devices in an important document of tiiw kind. Wh.it Koi-l. of supervision can rhave bevn shown by t-he A;,v::it-General wbiu a stituuvut fcigiivJ by him, und pledging the credit ol thu colony, i* allowed to be issued in fcucb a way as to mislead wuuld-uo inwstoiti to the extent of neuily htuf-a-iualliwi of money. JsuppoKe it luid been the cxsm of v. prospectus for a x>ublic company, what would the shareholders have said when they found out they had been induced to invest tiiwr money on the strength of euch inaccurate representations? It (seems to ua that the Ag<;nt-General would bo for better employed in correcting mistakes Biada in haa own office, instead of troubling bimself so unnecessarily about the alleged inaecuruckj of the N«av Zealand comspoudtsnt of "The Times."