Loan Finance

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31583, 22 January 1968, Page 10

Loan Finance

Sir,—The Social Credit Political League is too concerned about preserving its “respectability” to mention bank hidden reserves in its policy and Mr Muldoon is only dodging W. B. Bray’s question about the' banks evading taxation by hiding their real profits in the process of writing down the value of their assets It is high time we had scientific accuracy on this matter, and only the Government can initiate a properly constituted inquiry. Even the Controller and Audi-tor-General does not know the full amount of the undistributed profits held by the Bank of New Zealand, which is wholly Government owned. In his 1962 report to Parliament he sard: “The dividend received from the bank has remained static for the last seven years at £454,277, representing a return of 3.77 per cent on the cost price of the si ares, £12,017,295. The bal-ance-sheet discloses a general reserve of £4,000,000, but as hidden reserves are permitted in banking accounts it may be presumed that substantial additional reserves exist.” — Yours, etc., W. B. BROCKIE. January 21, 1968.