BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 6272, 19 May 1881, Page 2

BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

The half-yearly report of the Bank of New Zealand has been published. As usual with this institution it is both clear and satisfactory, and the shareholders have again to congratulate themselves on the manner in which the hank’s affairs have been conducted. On this subject the Auckland Star has some very pertinent remarks, which we reprint. Our contemporary says : —“ The operations of the Bank of New Zealand are properly regarded as a good test of the prosperity of the colony. A company employing resources representing £11,995,455 (chiefly in New Zealand), must reflect in its successes the general prosperity of its customers. The past half-year has been remarkably successful; and while the shareholders are to be congratulated upon another good dividend, those who do not participate in the division will feel an interest in the proofs which the report and its attendant speeches give of the progress of the land we live in. The divisible profit of the half-year is about £ISOO more than during the previous half, but this does not represent the full extent of the improvement in business disclosed in the last half-year as compared with the previous six months, for, according to the statement made by the chairman in moving the adoption of the report, £17,000 have been paid in taxation. If the property tax has got down upon other capitalists in the same ratio, wealth will have contributed pretty well this year to the' financial burdens of the colony. The source of the increased business is discoverable in the fact that £770,000, which was before lying on short call in London, has since found more profitable investment in the colony ; and the wool season has also given a more active exchange. We are glad to be able to discover in this report, signs of the passing away of the monetary crisis in New Zealand, and we believe, with the proposer and seconder of the report, that if ordinary prudence is exercised in the management of our public affairs, the revival will be permanent.”