BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

Northern Advocate, 6 December 1918, Page 1

BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

I SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING. i SIX PER CL'XT. DIVIDEND. I The- half-yearly general meetin..', , of the Bank oi New Zealand was heul at !11 a.m. to-day, at the head onice of : the Bank, Lambton Quay, Wcdiing- : ton. The chairman of the directors, IMr Harold Beauchamp, was in the ! chair, and in the course or his intzo- ; ductory remarks, said that tne business of the meeting would be coniined merely to the declaration of an i interim dividend and the election of I a director.

j Although (said Mr Beauchamp) we jure not submitting any accounts to.day, it will interest the shareholders ,to know that the results of the Bank's working for the half-year have (.been satisfactory, and that the .Board has been able to declare th* .usual interim dividend of six per eem. I The dividend will be payable in Wel'.lington to-morrow, and at Branches 1 ,on receipt of advice. I BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

Mr W. Watson, one of your representatives on the Board, retires by .rotation on 31st March next; and having given due notice of his intention to seek re-election for a further .term, and there being no other candidate, I have much pleasure in declaring' him duly elected. In this connection, I may mention that Mr Watson has been connected with the Bank for over twenty-four years, for twenty of which he has had the honour of representing- the shareholders continuously, and during that period lias rendered eminent services to the Bank. NEW ZEALAND LOCAL CONDITIONS. The past winter was an exceptionally severe one, and the spring months were cold and wet. Farming operations, in consequence, are somewhat backward. Lambing generally has suffered, and it is feared that in some of the high country in the South Island a series of late snowfalls have caused losses of stock. The dairying industry has also been adversely affected. Better weather, however, is now being experienced, and having regard to the high prices ruling for our staple products, the season gives promise of being on the whole a good one. THE EPIDEMIC. It is unfortunate that at the time when the glad tidings of the signing of the armistice reached the Dominion, we should have been suffering from one of the worst and most farreaching epidemics that the country I has ever experienced. The disease— J influenza, in many cases attended by complications—was, there is ilttle doubt, introduced by returned soldiers and visitors from overseas. Unhappily, a large number of deaths have taken place, and business has been more or less disorganised throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion by the universal sickness. The Minister for Public Health, ably seconded by the Mayors of the various cities and towns and by a host of voluntary workers, has been doing all he can to grapple with the epidemic; and it is to be hoped that by the prompt and effective measures which have been taken, it will be stamped out at no distant date. POST-WAR PROBLEMS.

Following the close of the war now comes the difficult task of arranging the terms of peace. In this connection it is gratifying to note that the representatives of the Dominions will have seats at the Peace Conference. One of the outstanding questions for Australasia is of course the destiny of the Gorman Colonies in the Pacific. These cannot, and must not, be returned to Germany to become in the future bases for submarines and aircraft, and therefore a menace to th" peaceful development of tin. . Brigs'" Dominions in those seas. There aro of course other matters of great moment in which we art- interested, thnt are hound to be discussed at the Pen"--Conference; but the determination of the disnosnl of the German colonies in the Pacific is, to us, a very important question. Australian and New Zealand statesmen are. happily, unanimous on this point. The active work of repatriation, restoration, and reconstruction must now be undertaken, and che greatest intelligence and the greatest organising ability will have to be utilised for this purpose, for at every step complicated and serious problems are bound to present themselves, for solution. It seems to me that the transition period will be no less trying and anxious than the war period has been; and the best efforts of every individual in the community will be needed to maintain the economic machinery in smoothly-running order. I do not anticipate any immediate variation in the prosperity that this Dominion has enjoyed during the four year* of the war. There will probably be for some time a pressing demand for our foodstuffs and raw materials. It is practically assured that the Imperial authorities will take the output of wool for a period of twelve months from June following the declaration of peace; and arrangements have now been concluded with them to take our output of cheese and butter for this and the folV.ving season, at satisfactory prices. This places the wool and dairying industries upon an assured footing for a considerable period. As to moat, however, which bulks so largely in our exports, the present term of the commandeer is for only three months after termination of the war. If this be not altered, it is conceivable that in March or April next the refrigerated stores will be full to the doors, and transportation and realisation of the meat in store would probably occupy not less than eighteen months. it is, I consider, highly beneficial to New Zealand that these forward contracts have been made with the Imperial Government in regard to wool and dairy produce; and in my opinion it would' be to the advantage of the Dominion if the principle were also extended to meat. The war prosperity of the Dominion has been largely due to the operations in produce by the Imperial Government; and until, at any rate, normal business conditions 'prevail and the shiopinm position improves considerably, the advantages of a continuance of those operations are to m<: mind obvious. There is tiow in cold-store of frozen meat alone a quantify equal to about 'U million (iOlb freight carcases; there are also considerable quantities of cheese and butter and a Nazol for Influenza and Catarrh.

large amount of wool. in addition, there are heavy stocks of tallow, pelts, hemp, and other products, which have not been comniandeen-u by the Imperial Government. The prese.it season, for reasons I have already given, is a backward one, so that not much of the current year's yield has yet got into store. It must be borne in mind that all the Imperially-re-quisitioned product? will have to be lifted in priority to purchaser; on private account; and as the- British commandeer of shipping vs ill probably not be relaxed for some eoii^iderriblt. , time, it i=s clear that private puivhr.iers would in that case have to take heavy risks, it, is c-asy to understand that if the bulk of next season's m<-ar has to be held in the refrigerate s stores pending a market being found for it, a difficult, and in some ca.-.es, unsatisfactory, situation would ari.?- , . The scarcity of tonnage Is likely to continue—indeed is certain to continue—for several month:-., notwithstanding the fact that n fair amoiuu of shipping will be released there being no longer any iiooosslty to transport munitions and laen. i<. may not be out of place to remind farmers and others who have accused the shipowners of exploiting the public, and so profiteering, that all shps on the British Register were requisitioned during the early part of 1917 at Blue Book rates, these rates being approximately one-third of those thei; ! obtainable in the open market. The j difference between the. Blue Book I rates and those now current benefit?, 'not the shipowners, but the Imperial Government. So long as the. British authorities continue their control o! , shipping, so long will i , L-< : diiiicuh •.■■> know just what number of vessel.--will be available for our produce trade. It is moreover of the utmost importance to us that the income from the sale of produce should be a? large during the next two years as k is this year, to enable us to meet our obligations in the meantime whilst, we are making provision for the readjustment of our affairs to moot the. changed conditions. Had we been able to foretell a year ago just exactly when the war would end, we could have made some preparation to meet the situation; but the end has c-onn; suddenly, and the post-war problems have yet to be grappled with. One great burden that the war has forced upon us is a huge public debt. The Minister of Finance has repeatedly stated, since his return from England, that the public debt is about £200,000,000. This at 45 per cent. means an interest bill of £9,000,000 per annum, or say £750,000 a mouth; and there will be, in addition, the heavy pension bill to meet. These two items will absorb about eleven millions to twelve millions a year. This is a very heavy load for the country to carry, and it necessarily means that taxation must for some time be heavy. There is, however, Nazol for Influenza and Catarrh.

I one feature about the debt that re- : dounds to the credit of the people. j A large proportion of the money rei quired for the prosecution of the war I was obtained within New Zealand, it ■ was recently stated officially that the ' amount of the war loans raised in the Dominion was equal to about i'4o per I head of the population, a truly mag::iI ficent achievement. Well as the people of Zcw Zealand have done, the people in the Briti:;a Isles have done infinitely better. The--Chancellor of the Exchequer tlu ! other day obtained a credit vote o. j £700,000",000. which does not rc-:»-v [ Hont the end of such vote-. With ih' i vote, the total is brought up to t:,. ! huge sum of i'8,742,000,00(J, mad, I up as under:— Year. £ 1914-1.5 :^)2,000,000 ! 1915-16 1,420,000,0:U 1910-17 2,01 0.00 J,<JO(: 1917-18 2,450,000,00 j 1918-19 2,500,000,00. ! £8,742,000.0;, I .._____ The debt due to Great Bnlai '■. from the. Allies on August 1 v.v. '£1 402,000,000, and from the Do J millions £208,500,000; and bo:!; amounts would be considerably largcu now. It was officially stated in th;; House of Commons that the Nation;:i War Debt on September ;30 last amounted to £0,875,000,000; an i there is the recent credit vote to be added, which would bring the total to £7,575.000,000. It will probably take another i' 500,000,000 to repatriate the troops and for restoration, compensation, etc., which would make the National War Debt about £$,000,000,----000. Of the amount duo to Britain from the Allies and Doiuirioi". =. £1,000,000,000 is regarded as j>oo,L and this would leave the debt a' £7,000,000,000. The interest HI! would probably total £:J15,000.0u;>. which, with the amount required for the normal peace expenditure, would mean raising a revenue of £000,000,----000—or three times the amount raised m the peace year of lDlo-14. The people in Britain will be unable to indulge in any extravagances and will be unable to afford any fancy prices for foodstuffs or for anything else. And this state of affairs is likely to continue for some time. But there will, I anticipate, be no sharp or sudden decline in the prices of our produce or, on the other hand, of the commodities we import. As re- j gards imports, there is more likely to be an upward rather than a downward tendency, for a time at least, in the cost of commodities that are imported into this country. There is a world-wide shortage of standard goods and of raw materials, and these cannot be be produced in sufficient quantities to meet all demands for a very long time, so that values, when they do recede, will do so gradually. Furthermore, so far as New Zealand is concerned, there will be a considerable difficulty in importing goods (Continued on Page 4.) Nazol for Influenza and Catarrh.