THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 1877.

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 64, 15 January 1877, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 1877.

Thb determination, as it would appear, of the Bank of New South Wales to commence business in Reeftoo, will, we think, be hailed with satisfaction, not meftely as regards that corporation singly, bat as the first step towards the breaking in upon what has long been regarded, .as a very highly undesirableMnouopolyv Tbat a dieirict like this offeiing, t& it does, such extensive inducements for profitable investment, should have so long been allowed to escape tfre enterprise pf the majority of the banking corporations established ( on the West Coast, is me of those' things which cannot, at least outside banking pircles, be satisfactorily explained. In the case of the Kutnara, scarcely had the fiel4 been opened than the whole of the banks cut in for a share of its trader and here is a com* nmnity established for years, possess* ing. an enduring industry, and one which is hardly second in importance and prosperity to any in the colony, h&u been allowed to escape competion. Doubtless there are wheels within wheels, ' and possibly there may, from the colonial banking point of view, be some sgbstantfalj though to as inscrutable, reason for all this. Bat as we have already saig, jt is not easy to divine what it is. Of course banking business in relation to quartz mining is necessarily hazardous, and possibly this may have had something to do in frightening away competition ; but, after all, it is open to question, whether the risk of money broking on this field have been, or are stiJJ- one whit higher than in aay flther or the pursuits p.f banking life. At any rate, the generally recognised commercial axiom that tfce profit should be proportionate to the risks, has not been very widely departed from on this field ; in fact, the esrjl has rather been that th.c profit, in the majority of instances, has been wholly out of proportion to the risk, and oat of this has grown the chief cause of complaint. The Inangahua had not been opened many month* before abundant evidence was given that it gMßgested. resources of no ordinary kiod, but it has, unfortunately, happened that some of those whose especial business it was to be amongst the first to comprehend this, have been amongst the very last, the result being that the district is now in something of the position of commencing its exist-* ence. Whatever has been done here up to this time in the, way of developing the reefs, hag, in a general sense, been done in great part by private enterprise.: the heat of the burden has been home chiefly by thone whose only income and means has been their daily toil, and .whenever they have be^n assisted fro,in without, they have contrived to pay prstty, welt through the »ose for it* % this we da not mean that they have been exposed to anything even bordering upon usury, but what ftas. perhaps been far more djnas troua, the withdrawal o f that support at a optical lime,, or the demand for its return at an unripe momen^, flow many instances can be adduced on this field of the compulsory sequestration ofmiatog companies by the banks, in respect to ventures which subsequently baye proved of the soundest character. an4jt is undeniable that a good deal of this is traceable to the one fact of the absence of banking competition. It is nojb urged, noreipee^d for asiagln foment, that all these matters should' bp regelated by an accommodating l^jity on, the part of bank managers, tn % W.caje tjifi pfjl »o#ld be rather

aggravated, and of the truth of this we have had some rather sore experience. Perhaps no greater blow was ever in« flicted upon this district than that which a few months back followed upon the demand .of the -banks lor tb.e repayment of all advaaces. In that case the baftks -were themselves to blame by enJuciug a false prosperity by the jeadioess with which they extended advances to all classes of undertaking indiscriminately, without stipu* lationas to the method of covering them or the time of repayment, and were infinitely more to blame for the unreasonable antl unwarrantable cojjrse taken for their recovery. But it is expected that corporations which are nominally brought into existence for the purpose of siding legitimate enterprises shall be guided and governed in all their relations by the fixed and recognised principles of commercial and financial morality, and that their operations should be far removed from the caprice of incompetence or inexr perienced management. Jt has all along been regarded that in one respect, at least* bank management here bar not been satisfactory, and that in this repeet thai the local management has been allowed no discretionary powerthat the moving spirits of both institutions have been placed at a distance, and have been not at all times directed with a, sufficient knowledge of the circumstances or the requirements of the field. £his as it may be, it is certain that the field has not received that prudent and 'solid advantage which it is justly entitled to expect, and the monopoly enjoyed has led to the joccasional exercise of an unsal»tary ia« fluenee which it k neither in the interest of parties nor the advantage of the community should be , encouraged. It is not to be denied that the banks represented here have in many ways lent important aid to mining enterprises, but it is only too true that is other respects the managemeut has been a subject of prolific malediction. ......