GOVERNMENT TO TAKE OVERSEAS BANK SHARES

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 October 1948, Page 3

GOVERNMENT TO TAKE OVERSEAS BANK SHARES

WELLINGTON, October 14. Vesting in the Crown of Bank of New Zealand shares still held in Australia and England is provided for by a clause in the Finance Bill introduced in the House of Representatives to-day. According to the last report of the bank there are 41 shareholders on the London register and four in Australia. The Bank of New Zealand Act passed in 1945 provided for the vesting in the Crown of all shares held in New Zealand, but merely authorised the Government to buy shares registered in London, Sydney, and Melbourne. Many overseas shares were bought by the Government under this clause.

The clause in the Finance Bill provides for vesting in the Crown the remaining shares in the capital of the Bank of New Zealand as from January 1 next. The holders will be paid a sum to be fixed by the Minister of Finance, but not less than the highest cash price at which any share registered in the same register has alredy been bought by the Crown. A The Westport Coal Company Act passed earlier in the present session was in somewhat similar form. It provided for the vesting in the Crown of certain shares that the Government had not been able to buy, according to the preamble, “by reason of the registered shareholders having died or of their whereabouts being unknown or similar reasons.” It is understood that some of the shares to which that bill applied were held overseas.