THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXII, Issue 243, 15 October 1888, Page 4

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION.

We quote the following artiole from the Wanganui Chronicle:— The journalistic Ishmael of tbo colony has seized the opportunity to have a " clip " at tbe Bank of Nbw Zealand. Tbe article is olever in its way, and displays all \hc courage of tbe bravo who has pluck enough to pound a man when he is down. The Evening Press\\*% been true to its instincts and o its reputation, and by its articlo has done much to establish the confidence of suoh as might have been of doub'ful mind, Icdeed had tho Press written in any other strain, it would have given rice to suspicion, and to a feeling of wonder as to whether it could have been squared. As it is, people are satisfied beo&tt»e it is just what they expected. Besideß, they koow exactly how to discount tbe wri era criticism. Severe ?s are tbe comments upon the Bank directors, they are not more so than similar atric'ures, proceeding from the same source, with whioh the Premier and olher members of tho present Colonial Government bave br<-n again and again favored, A stranger, unaccustomed to the brilliant but extravagant and.untrustworthy style of tho Press, would, from a peraeal of its editorials, imagine %'\t Premier to be an unmitigated humbug aod a thorough-paced Booundrel -yet everybody in the colony knows, and r.obody, whatever bis politiool opinions may be, will deny, that Sir Harry Atkinsan ia ea patriotic, disinteres'ed, aDd public Bpir t&i a pjlitiei n bb ever held office in the colony. If, therc^ fore, there wer« no more foundation for ifce attack upon the Bank directors than there has been for the continual diatribes against the Premier and his oollengues, tbe aiticls in the Press would harJly merit evau a passing notice. As it is, there is li* tie in the artiole, when stripped of the inv»ctiv^ with which it abounds, th%b calls for reply. We had it all before in tho report of the Shareholders' Committee. The Bank disclosures were not forced by the action of the Press, or as the result of foreign pressure. They were made and published voluntarily by tbe authority of the propriatore, and tbe newspapers of the colony have highly commended the unusual frankness wbiuh ba-3 been displayed, and has r-joiced to kuow tbat the Bank is safe aDd round, ned that it has a good promise of prosperity ia the future. There has been no ju^ilatim at 'ho lossa* that have been made, or at tho apparent recklessness from which they h;ivo resulted. Yet, although we have no wish to shield those who, at head-quarters, are primarily responsible for the heavy losses that have been made, it; remains to be seen whether, after all, they have been guilty of anything worse than grave errors of judgment. So far as we know, it is not charged against them that the Bank's money was advanoed for tho purpose of bolstering up rotten concerns. At the time, tbe securities taken were ample to cover all advances, and the losses that have aoorued have been largely the result of the general Bhrinkage in values, over whioh the Bank had no control. With regard to the particular direotors who are now denounced as if they wera the blackest of criminals, it must at least be admitted that if they have involved tha Bank in heavy losses, they have brought ruin upon themselves. And, if we mistake not, they bad no need to do anything of the kind. They would have been better off when the crash came if they had steadily resisted the temptation to extend their operations by tbe use of borrowed Bank capital. What was their fault ? Simply, that they were not as long-headed us they thought they were. They had implicit confidence in the Auckland bcom of five or six years ap o, and thought that, although all the rest of the colony might go to the wall, Auckland could not possibly come to grief. Consequently they fathered all kinds of industries and speculations, and were looked upon as real live, go ahead men of business, who were an example to their neighbours near and far. "Nothing succeeds like success," and in the days of Dooming prosperity and big dividends, when the operations of these men kept the city alive, and resulted in the apportionment of unexampled profits amongst the Bank's shareholders, their praises were upon everybody's lips. But now, when reverses have come, when big losses have to be admitted — j when there is a suspicion abroad that the supposed clever onea have not even been wise enough to feather their own nests —now they are hounded down as criminals whose names ought to be held up to public execration. It is quite forgotten that if they deserve great blame for present losses, they are entitled to praise in an equal degree for past profits. For good or for ill, they represented the genius of the bank, and the amount of censure on the one hand and approval on the OLher to which they are entitled should be justly apportion- ' cd. But let us look at the matter in another light. These men are condemned for criminal recklessness, if not something worse, in the management of the bank's affairs. We would ask whether they have been more reckless with the bank's money than thep hare been with their own? We would like to know, further, whether there has not been equal rashness displayed by many of Auckland's—and indeed of the colony's—shrewdest men in the management of their own private business affairs ? The fact of the matter is this—that most men make plenty of allowance for themselves if their speculations prove unprofit* aole, but thejr are down upon " the management" immediately if losses are made in any concern in which they have money invested. The Bank of New Zealand losses have been very large, but, compared with the magnitude of its operations, they are not larger than, have been suffered by many another institution and private firm throughout the.colony during the dark dayu of depression.