The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1896.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXX, Issue 222, 19 September 1896, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1896.

The curtain is about to drop on tho farce of the Banking inquiry. The Legislative Council Committee has done its work quietly and expeditiously, and it has already sent in its report, the text of which is published in another column. Its most salient feature is its reference to Mr J. G. Ward. Though apparently exonerated from the principal blame attaching to the oats transaction, he is considered to have placed himself in a very equivocal position by retaining his office of Colonial Treasurer when he knew on his return from England that he was financially involved. He does not seem to have been an active agent in the purchase of the Colonial Bank by the Bank of New Zealand, and the report of the Committee does not impute corruption j but there is no getting away from the fact that Mr Ward was a .powerful member of the Ministry which passed the Banking legislation, and which sanctioned the absorption of the Colonial Bank by the Bank of New Zealand. The Committee also justifies the purchase as a fair bargain ; but it sepms to have ignorod or overlooked the facts brought before Mr Justice Williams at Punedjn, that the Ward Farmers' | Association was tho principal debtor to the Colonial Bank, and that Mr J. G. Ward was the principal of the Association. His colleagues must have known his financial position as soon as tho proposal for tho purchase of the Colonial Bank was before thorn, for tho classification of the /issets must have shown how Mr Ward was placed. Consequently, though Mr Ward may never havo attended a mooting of .tho Cabinet when the banking matter was being £onßider ( ed, though ho may not have taken any a,ctiVe share in tho deliberations, bio tacit mtliieiico was necessarily exorcisod in the decisions mado. Any man owing v bank sevonil thousands of pounds, cither as an individual or as tho representative of a company, must have his independence fettered in relation to that bank. Mr Ward was so fettered, and ho could not disjsociato his individuality from his Ministerial position, any more than his colleagues could tako action without reference to his private affairs. In tho circumstances, Mr Ward should havo resigned, and the Committee naturally condemn him for riob having done so!, But tho blame cannot be attributed to Mr Ward alone. Why did j)Qt his colleagues insist that he should resign ? 1 1 is idle to say that his peculiar position was unknown to them. Even if ho had kept his secrets from his closest personal fri,en,dß, as soon as the Cabinet jnvesjagated the accounts of the Colonial jtenk, Mr Ward's affairs omsb have been divulged to Ministers. It |s (obvious, therefore, that, nrith full knowledge of Mr Ward's position, the Government permitted

him to remain Colonial Treasurer Hid sanctioned the purchase of the Colonial Bank, realising that such a transaction would assuredly dispose the selling bank to treat its debtor (Mr Ward) leniently. Under these conditions it did not matter much whether Mr Ward was present at the deliberations or whether he stayed away. His personal and Ministerial influence represented him at the council of his colleagues ; and as he had not chosen to resign, and as his colleagues had not forced him to do so, the whole Ministry must take the blame for the banking scandal. It will be interesting to read the report of tho Committee of the Lower House when it is presented. That inquiry has been the merest farce, and Mr Seddon and Mr Ward have beon )>inying Box and Cox at it. Here also i«w Mr Ward kept away personally, Imt his influence has pervaded tlu atmosphere of the Committee. Every pretext, every dodge, every quibble has beon used by his representatives to prevont disclosure, and as socn as tho affairs of tho J, G. Ward Association were approached by a hair's breadth, some Ministerialist, generally the Premier, has stood in the way. If the Committee reports honestly, it will simply say that no evidence of the slightest use in elucidating the matters to investigate which the inquiry had beon instituted has been forthcoming, and that therefore it has failed in its object. The time and money of the country have been wasted, and the Bank of New Zealand has been done almost irreparable injury by an inquiry which broke down at the outset when Mr Watson refused to speak and the Bank paid a fine the Parliament was unable to enforce. From that day to this the proceedings have been marked by the reticence of witnesses, the special pleading of Mr Ward's champions, and the successful blocking of salient questions by the Premier. Such lamentable impotence in a public and authoritative body has seldom been displayed, and tho sooner it sends in a report " full of emptiness," the sooner will the curtain be rung down on a farce of which the people have long been weary.