THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1896. COLONIAL BANK LIQUIDATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 3009, 22 December 1896, Page 2

THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.)

TUESDAY , DECEMBER 22, 1896. COLONIAL BANK LIQUIDATION.

ifxth which are incorporated the Wellington ludevendvnt , established 1845, and the New Zealander ;

It will ho remembered that when it was proposed to sell tho assets of the J. Or. Ward Farmers* Association for .£62,730 to Messrs A. Lee Smith and J. B. Keid, the objection which was made to do duty was that this sale would hide away from thos6 who had a right to know all that had ted Up to the financial difficulties whteh. resulted in the failure of that Association. Tho use then made of tho name of the Hon J. G. Ward by hia political opponents is now shown to have been improper. Yet it was ho who was made tho scapegoat. It Was his aharo in the affairs of the j. G. Ward Association which tho opponents of the sale of the assets mado use of as an excuse for resisting the sale. When It Was pointed out that in the, theft Condition of affairs the acceptance cf .£62,750 might well be considered ft good stroke of business, the ansWoi s immediately came back that, eten se> the whole thing should bo sifted* It was pointed out by those who favoured the sale that, in all human probability, tho liquidation of the estate would not realise the amount offered by! Messrs Lea Smith and Reid; that the delay would bo detrimental* and that; liquidation might mean ruin to a large' number of settlors. These probabilities were admitted by the opponents Cf the scheme; bub they declare! th£t 5? all the misery and rain predWW'4 were to take: place; if the Shareholders of the Colonial Bank had .to sacrifice all change Of h recovery of funds, th©£o Wfts a great principle at stake, and the guilty ones must be discovered and punished. No word was said about the possibility of a larger sum being realised. There was then no thought of a recovery of the farmers and a leap-up in the prices of grain. It is, therefore, the veriest hypocrisy for the Post now to say that any such thought was ever in the minds of the opponents of the sale of the assets as the realisation by means of liquidation of a larger sum than the «£62,700. The Post, and with, it a number of other Conservative newspapers, filled column after column with the cruellest denunciations of Mr Ward, and it was he who was blanied for all that had taken place; it Was his political and financial overthrow that was aimed at. And now, forsooth, because u things have taken a turn,” and there is a cbauoo of that happening which, had it come ft year sooner, would have secured the fortune of the Hon J. G. Ward ftud ensured tho success of the Ward Association, these political enemies of tho late Colonial Treasurer, who hounded him down and would have hunted him out of political life, are whining about their having succeeded in doing the right thing by the shareholders of the Colonial Bank. The viry appeal made for funds wherewith, first, to prosecute enquiries, and, afterwards, individuals enlarged, not upon tho possibilities of profit from the liquidation, but vengeance upon those who wore alleged to have gob the Association into difficulties. Wo all know now that not only the Ward Farmers* Association and Mr Ward htmsolf, but others who were in the frofcon meat and grain trade went down before the falling prices. The case of one of the leading merchant* In Christchurch is a case in point. In his case, however, there was no denunciation. With that course’ of conduct we are, and always have been, entirely in accord. Fortunes have been made and blasted in similar fashion in the commercial world, and usually tho failures have called forth commiseration. Bufc-~ and it is useless for the Post or anyone who took part in the hunt of Mr Ward to deny it—nobone single word that could have softened the blow to him, or can now be twisted into the sense that the profit of the shareholders of tho Colonial Bank was being considered, was ever uttered. comes to him who waits.” \b3, indeed. And fortunate it is for Mr Ward that in the darkest days of his adversity there were those who ahowsd their belief in him; who clung to him despite the bitter persecution, the cruel, condemnation to which ho Was subjected. Many another man Would have fallen, never more to rise, before tho fierce onsets Jof unscrupulous enemies ; but the lion J. G. Ward was made of sterner stuff." With his back to tho wall, ho faced his bitterest foes, and now the day of his full deliverance is in sight. Not only so; but the day of his persecutors has passed, and they will meet with tho con* tempt they so richly deserve. There is no escape for them, though our evening contemporary would fain 8 3cure them a way of retreat.