BANK OE AUCKLAND—WINDING UP.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 81, 6 April 1867, Page 3

BANK OE AUCKLAND— WINDING UP.

rErom the New Zealand Herald, April 3.] Yesterday, the town was thrown into a-'Statejof. considerable excitement]by the , announcement , that the Manager .of the Bank of Auckland had absconded. 'The facts are these. Mr. Johns went on board - the mail steamer for Sydney, and attempted to obtain a passage from the capt. A clerk of the Company being on board, : on coming ashore informed the ageut, who is auditor of the Bank, and the directors sent off a police-boat with the solicitor of ihe Company on board, with" the view;! of inducing Mr. Johns to return. They . had no authority to arrest him. The mail steamship was detained for some time enabling the boat to reach the vessel. On reaching the steamship, and being beckoned to, Mr. Johns came off the poop and descended the ladder iuto the boat, which at once put off for the shore. Mr. Johns and Mr. Hughes landed at the Gore-street jetty, and walked to the Bank, the police boat pulling to the Queen-street Wharf, the mail ship at the same time steaming away. On arriving at the Bank, an examination into the accounts was made by the directors, and continued untila late hour last night. No defalcations were discovered. There was evidence, however, ; of an undue attempt to accommodate con- { stituents of the bank, about £4,000 of overdue bills having been returned by the manager as specie. This facile disposition to accommodate persons having accounts in the bauk, proved the ruin of the manager. He concealed all knowledge of the fact from the directors, as he did also of a considerable advance on the brig Flying Cloud. It is not easily ascertainable why Mr. Johns should have absconded, because there was no charge against him beyond tbat of mismanagement, aud this was ■equally chargeable to the directors, who ought to have niade themselves conversantwith the business of the bank. The rumour in town yesterday was to the effect that the Union Bunk had refused the notes of the Bank of Auckland, and so brought about the crisis. This is not strictly true. Up to three o'clock yesterday afternoon the notes of the Bank of Auckland were not refused by the Union ; but then, when a parcel of £500 was brought up to balance the exchange, the Bank of Auckland agent,was requested to lodge gold, instead ' of paper. The same lodgment of a large sum "-iv -• paper to balance, the exchange, had occurred\ repeatedly, and the manager thought — md wisely — that it was time to bring it to an end. A meeting of all the bank managers . was held at the office of the Union Bank last i evening, at which the difficulty created -by these events was discussed. -Messrs. J. O'Neill and D. Nathan, two directors of the Bank of Auckland, attended, and explained the position of the !bank. At this meeting it was resolved to pay the depositors and note-holders, reserving the question of security to a future meeting (to-day), and the extent of liability was to be fixed by a report from the accountants of the other banks appointed for that purpose.-- The Bank of New Zealand and Bank of New South Wales were- represented at-this scrutiny. In reference to this arrangement,', the following paper was last night handed to us for publication, by the Directors. of the ißank of Auckland: — We are authorised . to state that arrangements are in' progress, " under which four of the banks carry ing on business in this place, viz., the Union ■■ Bank of Australia, the , Bank of New South Wales, the Bank of New Zealand,

and the Bank of Australasia, will take over the business of the Bank of Auck-~" land and discharge their liabilities. The Bank of Auckland will undertake no new business, but will be kept open until the transfer is complete. It is difficult to say "why Mr. Johns should have attempted to leave the place, except that over anxiety in other matters affectedhim. He had only £6 in his pos- . session. He is not iv any way, so far as we know, indebted to the bank. He was anxious to do a large business, and perhaps presumed too much on the truthfulness and honesty of his constituents. At all events, the rush step he took has precipitated ' matters. The Bank of Auckland will wind up, we trust, with no loss to the shareholders ; — and " Local Enterprise No. 2" will have gone to ihe wall. • Mr. Johns made himself personally liable for £4000 on account of the Thames Saw Mill Company, payment of which was pressed yesterday.