THE COLONIAL BANK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10572, 20 January 1896, Page 4

THE COLONIAL BANK.

TO THE EDITOB. Sib, —I have, after a long and unexpUined delay, just received a dividend, in liquidation, of 10b a share —equal to 5s in toe pound on ths amount paid up—on my shares in the Colonial BankVThre is disappointing. A ahort tisae ago shareholders were asaured by the director. and manager, they had engaged and handsomely paid that the capital and raser**. of tbe bank, equal to nearly 50s a share, were intact Then they were prepared by suhreqaent disclosures to find that these people had eithec purposely misled them or were culpably ignorant of their businesa^bnt still not toßuch an i extent as this. ..-,., In view of the meeting of shareholders to be held next Wednesday, which I may not be able to attend, I suggest feat Bomebody in a soffi. oiently independent position should ask one ot two questions in eooceetion with this rci.ersble dividend. For instance. Why have the directors kept baok the cash paid over by the Bank of New Zealand when it took over tte business so long in their hands unemployed"Snd'midivided ? Why did they not pay it over direct to the shareholders when received, aa they could have done, instead of holding id back unused and then incurring needles* expenie by passing it through the hands of the provisional liquidators ? What is their excuse for presenting their friends with the shareholders' money in ttie shape of a gratuitous commission foe merely nominal and unnecessary work in this way? : . As the Premier made a distinct statement in the House of Representatives, as already pointed out by one of your correspondents, that £133,906, or 13s Id a share, was available for immediate distribution to the shareholders of the Colonial Bank, and that no claim could arise for a refund of any portion of that money as the result of liquidation,' why has only 10s a share been distributed ? And what bas become of the balance ? Have any accounts been compromised, directly or indirectly,, or are they likely to be without coming before the judge in open court ? There are more ways of killing a dog than by hanging it, you know.—l am, &c, Dunedin, Jan. 19. Anti-Guinea Pig.