BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14235, 4 December 1909, Page 6

BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

At the half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand, held yesterday, the statement of the chairman of directors reflected the increasing /confidence of the mercantile community that financial depression is passing over. An interim dividend of 5 per cent, was declared by the Board for the half-year ended September 30, and a review of the commercial outlook of the world showed that there is good reason to anticipate very satisfactory business conditions in the near future. It is to be regretted, however, that the directors continue the old custom of not presenting a half-yearly balance-sheet to their shareholders. As shareholders are all deeply interested in the progress of this great national institution,« and are naturally desirous of being informed from time to-' time upon the general character of its business, this change in method would be much valued by them as a considerate step on the part of the directors, while to the public it would serve as a reliable barometrical reading of the financial position of the country at large. We would sug-

gest that.. the half-yearly balancesheet ; prepared for the Board of Directors should henceforward be laid before the half-yearly meeting of shareholders. This could do no harm, would involve no extra labour, and would strengthen the cordial and amicable relations so happily established between directors and shareholders. In concluding his review of the promising commercial outlook, Mr. Beauchamp reiterates his customary warning of the continued necessity for caution and denounces those " ridiculously high land values" which, as he very correctly , points out, handicap our people in their work. There can be no doubt that inflated land values inevitably imperil business stability and prosperity, becoming in the end nothing more nor less than the basis for a specious form of gambling which drains wealth and undermines credit. It, is difficult to check inflation without hampering legitimate industry, but if the public as a body co-operate with the financial institutions in promoting sound business and in checking incautious speculation, there need be no fear for the commercial prospects of the Dominion.