BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVIII, Issue LXXVIII, 13 June 1919, Page 6

BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

ANNUAL MEETING OF SHARE-

HOLDERS

The annual meeting of shareholders in the Bank of: New Zealand was held at Wellington this morning. ! After the report and balance-slieef had been taken as read, j FEATURES OF THE YEAR. The chairman moved the adoption thereof. Referring particularly to the i business of the Bank, as disclosed by the; accounts, he passed under review some, of its special features. He noted that| with the provision made this year the reserve fund now stood at £2,350,003. The note circulation had further increased by £415,254, partly ac-j counted for by the fact that the demand! in the payment of returning troops had j ueen heavy. Deposits and securities i were reviewed, and he showed that: while in London money received from j the Imperial Government had led to the ■ accumulation of surplus, funds to the amount of over thirteen million?, the funds were employed in gilt-edged securities which are readily realisable. ! BANKING BUSINESS FRINai'LliS.

Referring to the advances and bills discounted, which totalled over seventeen jjulUons, he commented on tiie increase shown of over a miilion; and dealing with the general question of the Bank's advances to its customers, he said ho had heard of complaints that the Bank is no* providing adequate- support to the trade and industries of the country. He proceeded: "I can only say that there is no justification at all for such complaints. The Bank is turning away no business offered by its customers that can, by any means, be made suitable for a Bank's consideration. You will, of course, clearly understand that the-e are limits to advance business beyond which it would be injudicious for a Bank to go. A Bank's province is, properly speaking to finance trade. It should not smlj money in land, buildings, machinery, and" such-like. The money to? those should be provided by the customer's own capital, and the banker should not be asked to assist until work and trading commences. When that pointy is reached, the time has arrived when tne Bank can take a hand. Sometimes, however, we are approached with a request to find all the money needed to start some new industry, whilst the promoters themselves propose to provide nothing, or next to nothing, in the way of capital. Applicants niust not be surprised in such cas«s if their applications are refused, or sanctioned only on condition that a reasonable amount ot capital is provided by those primarily interested." An extract was given from the reporu ot an address by,. Sir Herbert Rambling, deputy-chairmani of Barclay's Bank, Ltd England, In support of the new that the policy adopted was the- onlyone possible in" order to retain banking business on a legitimate looting and avoid disasters. The chairman dealt with the position of the Bank's landed property, premises, etc., and the proposed atfosation of profit as set out m the telegraphed report already published and closing his review, drew attention to the increased growth in the Bank's aggregates.

GROWTH OF ASSETS. Our assets in this balance-sheet you will see, total £43,213,706 The fiom, for the previous year was £40,838 &BJ. frhe increase since March 31st 1914— i c in five years, is £15,813,406, or upwards of £3,750,000 per annum.

A QUESTION OF CAPITAL. | Reference was made to the desire^of the directors to call up its w^lleJ capital of £3 6s 8d per share on 150,000 ordinary shares, and the embargo so ia r placed on the proposal by the $ovemment' THE STAFF. Dealing with "the staff," the, chairman 4aid that of the total, number of officers who joined the colors, 560, there were on the 31st ult. 259 still on leave with the military forces, 20d tad returned and resumed duty: and /0 had been Mlted and 130 wounded As to women clerks, some had retired volun-l Wily, as the need^for their services was i not now pressing, but 296 were still on the roll. We have not, so fur, found it necessary to dispense with the services of any desiring to remain with us, and are hopeful that adjustment in the numbers will be effected automatically. A proportion of women clerks will, m any case, be permanently retained on the Bank's s!£ff, as it has been found that in certain classes of work they are very efficient and highly satisfactory. Opportunity was taken by the chairman to deal with complaints aoout the pay of bank officers. He claimed that the directors of the Bank of New Zealand had for years pursued a policy of betterment, "and the process has not by any means yet reached the summit of our ambition. Let me say here that it would be idle to expect that in such a concern everyone can be pleased. There are always, in a large staff such as ours, a certain proportion of men who. from limited capacity or other causes, have turned out tojse total or p'wtial failures; and as these men are usually not conscious of their own limitations, they become disgruntled and relieve their 'feelings by railing against things in general, and Banks in particular. I have a suspicion that it is to men of thiis class that the opprobrium heaped upon Banks in the connection is largely due. I confidently affirm that \ if a vote of the staff of this institution j were taken it would prove that our staff as a whole is well satisfied with its treatment." He pave details to show that the pay cud the pensions had been materially unproved of late years, and was in course of being still further improved. The chairman, having dealt with, other subjects, some of which are reported under separate headings, Mr Kane seconded the motion for the adoption of the report, confining his observations to the matter of uncalled capital and defending the action of tbe Bank in regard to its staff. The report arid balance-sheet were then discussed by shareholders, and wer3 eventually adopted.