THE BANK AGREEMENT

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIV, Issue 10787, 26 October 1895, Page 5

THE BANK AGREEMENT

THE HOSTILE MOTION.

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE. [eboii owe own correspondent.! ■ «. 'WELLINGTON, Ocx. 25. ° of tbe banfe agreement, which lasted from midday to the 5.30 adjournment, and boiled over beyond into the region supper-wards, has been rather tame and somewhat'dull. Mr Bell, as the accuser-in-chief of banka and bankere and Ministers and subservient majorities did not put his soul -into hie work. He made good use of his figures, 1 however. In October last the Colonial Bank balancesheet acknowledged a debt due by the public equal in the aggregate to i 11 ,731,549, but this is exactly within JBl (said the junior member for Wellington) of the total of the four Schedules as given m the President's report of yesterday of good and ba3 and doubtful debte, the latter 60 per cent of the whole. Added together the addition is ,£1,731,648. Evidently the omission of shillings and pence, says Mr Bell,' That he made capital out of this against the bank goes without saying, bat when you learn that his chief other poin t was the necessity for preventing the monopoly of banking and the desirability of not adding the bank officers to the ranks of the unemployed. you have the MEAStr&a ov the beld effort. Mr R. Thompson, who f seconded the motion, was. very savage agaihst the banka, and dwelt long on the* way they had endeavoured to hoodwink the country by, this agreement. Subservient majorities, unscrupulous. Governments and rotten institutions are the; staple of his uncompromising assault. • Sir El Stout succeeded with a speech in support of his special l©w point, of which I have advised you, viz., . the illegality of taking over doubtful assets; but here he stood alone, for the law officers have declared against him, and not a single member spoke on his side during, the debate. The Premier, who goes on the opposite tack,- astonished us all by moving an amendment for altering the negative motion of Mr. Bell into an affirmstiya motion by, the Government. He made

A FIGHTING SPEECH, and everybody trees bled for a long debate. Ho goes into ull the reasons for supporting the agreement, which are by this time' as. plentiful, as blackberries in autumn, and as well known to the general public which frequents; 1 the political roads of ; the country. The enemy fights with him as he goes. By this it must not be understood that I mean the Opposition. The Opposition supplies! strength to the position the Premier has; taken Up, while the enemy is largely recruited from the Ministerial ranks. Monopoly has, eaya the Premier, been talked about. Why, the WOEBT EVILS ,OF THE FAST FEW TEAKS have come from banking competition, bad managementj the ruin of shareholders and depositors, the dishonour of bankers, all the , evils of the Australian bank crisis! Are wo to perpetuate these to prevent a few bank clerks from being turned into The street P Mr George Hutchison,after lunch, makes a fearful attack on the Colonial Bank and the whole arrangement proposed.; He prophesies that Metiers Watson and Henry Mackenzie will wreck the public interest presently. The Treasurer, speaking rapidly, combats this view. I listened to Mr Ward with much interest. He speaks about that half-million of interest the Government is empowered by Act to take in the. Bank of New Zealand. He takes the very line that I indicated the other day-was likely to be - The bank is entitled, he says,' to assistance, on conditions, one of which is that the Colonial Bank must be acquired to INCREASE THE EAIiNIKq POWER by £30,000 a year. If the agtooment to buy be not carried out the Government cannot take the responsibility of taking up the half-million interest. No Government could or would take that responsibility, says Mr Ward. At this point I fall back on Nov. S and wonder whether the session * will hang on till that day, on which the Colonial Bauk shareholders meet. Dr Newman faces both ways in the struggle, Mr Duthie smites the Colonial Bank and the Bank of New Zealand hip and thigh, Mr Allen reproves him, Mr Collins gosa against the agreement on the ground of insufficient information, Mr Mackenzie attacks the agreement, and Mr E. Thompson says ditto to his speech before lunch •time, with, if possible, more ferocity. Captain Bussell stands up

HOT AND STRONG FOB THE AGREEMENT and the purchase and the best advice of the beet officers, given alter a careful deliberation of 5 six weeks. ' After that the division list shows 29 to 23. We feol that if the Opposition had liked they might —— Well, we don’t like to suppose what it is have done. At all events, many of them hake given important aid to the Government at a rather Critical juncture. THE NEW BILL. TJie BiU to fetoenol the Bank of New Zealand and Banking Act provides for the validation of the bank’s agreement. After thp ,date of the transfer of the business of the Colonial Bank to the Bmk of Now' Zealand, any cheque, bill of exchange, promissory note or o'her instrument payable at any office of the Colonial Bank shall be presented and be payable at the Bank Of New Zealand. With respect to the accounts mentioned in lists “B” and “ C” respectively, it is declared that the management, realisation and adjustment thereof by the Bank of New Zealand, as provided by Clause 9 of the said contract, shall for the purposes of Section 15 of the Bank of New Zealand Share Guarantee Act, 1894, be part of the affairs and business of the Bank of New Zealand, A d the provisions of that section, as ajso the powers,apd functions of the itpditprp of the Bank of New Zealand, shall apply and be exercisable accordingly. Frovisioh is made that the lists referred tp in the agreement heed hot be produced in any action in connection therfwith.