THE BANKING SITUATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2170, 26 September 1895, Page 28

THE BANKING SITUATION.

DISSENT AND DISAGREEMENT.

(Fkom Odr Own Cokrbsfosdbnt.)

Welunotos, Brpteraber 24. To-night it comes to me upon the moat credible authority that there li no pro^btUty of any agreement being arrived at between t&6 Bank of New Zealand and the Colonial Bank as to tho purchase of the latter, which was a condition precedent to tho optimistic anticipations as to future profits ef the Stateaided institution formulated in tho report of the Joint Committee of ■ the two Houses. The utterly unbusinesslike character of the huge commitment involved by the passage of the last Banking Bill, whan £30,000 per annum of estimated profit was contingent npon an agrcemtut yet to be made, waa plainly indicated a f tie time by moro thau one speaker. Bnt th- House was he, die-ay, ju-.d those most newly co&cerned to procure amalgamation naturally felt certain of their end when the bill became law. Naturally from «uoh a point of vantago the Colonial Bank ooald apparently dictato terms, for its alliance was essential by Che declaration of the committee and Parliament to the success of the reconstruction scheme. Bat the directors of the Bank of New Zealand determined to judge for themselves of the value of the business they were told to acquire, and in doing 10 have, I believe, disagn ed beyond the possibility of agreemont with the representatives of | the Colonial Bank. This, I believe, is to-daj the ftctual position.

The uncertainty in the public mind *s to the exact "-tigo reached in tho u<iyu<i\.ti h'b fir the purchase of the business of the Ooioni.-l Btuk by the Bank of Now Zealand aud the bujflestion that the negotiations had terminated abruptly invested the half-yearly meetirg ol the Colonial Bank yesterday with ao unusual amouat of interest, aud the attendance of shareholders was exceptionally lar&e, the banking hou«e being crowded to the door*. The proceedings were, however, briof aad UDtatisfying, The chairman (the Hon. G. M Lean) in opening the mretiiig did i of-, as is uaually done, move the adopttoa of the report, but, after indiotting that the nfgotihtions for the purchaie of the Colonial Bank's business were still in progress and that they were at 6uoh a stage that it wad undesirable at the present time to disclose their dttailp, moved the adjournment of the meeting for five weeks. A short discussion followed, in the course of which the chairman let diop the remark that tho '.< runs of the Bank of New Zealand and Bankljig Act, psseed through Parliament this tO3iion, would have to be altered before an agreement could be arrived at between the two bankf , and then the Motion for ad* jjurnnient was carried unanimiuxly.

A Caledoui*u SiciH.y has been started at Matanra, with Mr T. Culling as president. The membership of the Gore Swimming omb is 77, including 14 ladies. A start h made this year with a credit balance of over £8. The amount assured per head in th*> Australa- ian colonies is £19, or double that f tJanada, and £7 more than for the United Kiiogilom. Gent ml Bo li, of the .Salvation Arznj. is expected to reach Dunedin on Friday, October 18, and will leave for luveroargill on the Monday ' following. There is a building boom in Gore, as, in addition to the replacing of the buildings recently destroyed by fire, several other building! are being put up. The libel action commenced by A, B Wwrtbiuijtoii against Mr J. T. M. Hou-sby, editor of the Sun, is causing great excitement in Christchurcb. A otrong committee has been formed to assist Mr Hornsby in defending the action. At the Supreme Court at Christ-church on the 18th J. T. M. Hornsby, editor of the Sun newspaper, was called npon to show cause why he should not be committed for contempt of court in publishing comments on the alleged libel case Worthiugton v. Hormby. Hi* Hoaor inflicted a fine of £10, with £7 7a costs.