The Otago Witness. THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2209, 2 July 1896, Page 29

The Otago Witness.

THE WEEK.

WITH WHICH IS IKCOBPOSATKD THB SODTHHBM MHECUEY.

(THURSDAY, JULY S, 1896.)

" Kunquam allud natura, allud saplealia dixit."— Jpvknal. "Good ußture and good sense must ever join."— Pori.

A Strange Defence.

The arrangements made for hastening the issue of Hansard have evidently been succestfal. The first two numbers have come cut with commendable promptitude. We are sorry, however, to have to say that with this improvement in the issue of the publication there is a very striking deterioration in its contents. Not that there is any connection between the two circumstances, of course ; we merely chronicle the fact that the first number of tfle Hansard of session 1896, which bears evidence of much improvement' in business methods, is without exception in tone and matter the lowest and most disgracefurwhich has ever issued from the Government printing, press. Mr Ward's retiring speech if mnch worse in character than it would seem in the newspaper report. Allusions to some individuals (unnamed) have been omitted in the press reports, not, apparently, woauflO there could be *ay

datfger in reproducing them, but simply because they were at once too low and too dastardly for the newspapers on both sides of policies. Mr Ward's speech, too, as it reads in Hansard, is, in that modioum of it which may be called a defence, rather feebler even than it reads in the public printo. But out of the ex-Treasurer's continual repetitions one can get Some glimmer of light into statements that seemed meaningless before. Mr Ward is evidently very much exercised over the £30,000 draft and the false oats warrants, as well he might be. Over and over again in his speech he declares, as apparently a triumphant vindication of himself, that this unhappy draft "never was redebited to the Ward Farmers' Association." He says, indeed, that Mr Justice Williams did not know this, or on the point he .might have come to a different conclusion. Thi3, &s we have said, is repeated from time to time, but up to a certain point eaoh repetition leaves us quite in the dark as to what Mr Ward means and in what way he makes his case any the better by the fact (assuming it to be a fact, for Mr Vigors distinctly swore to the contrary) that the association had never been redebited with the draft. At length we come to a passage which explains his meaning:—

I was charged with* having signed a false balance sheet; bub the account never came back to the association. The association never had a redebit of £30,000, and therefore that (sum) ought nob to appear (in the balance sheet), and the balance sheet, as submitted to me for my signature, I can and will prore to be correct. >

Here, then, we get at Mr Ward's meaning, whioh so far has been puzzling enough to most people, and the reader can fairly estimate the value of the point. Mr Ward's manager gives the Colonial Bank a draft for £30,000 on John Connell and Co., of London, which draft is supposed to be represented by that amount of oats. Warrants are given for the oats, when it is discovered (we are' assuming, in accord with the evidence, that the fact was not known by the bank from the first) that there are no oats. Mr Ward, returning from London, discovers the transaotion (he was not long about it for a man who knew absolutely nothing about the details of bia business), and " stops the draft from going'forward," because, as he explains, "I thought it wrong." But then, ■ he tells us, the amount of the bogus draft was never redebited to the association, so that the balance sheet, <whioh showed the assoolation £30,000 to the good by the transaction, was a true balanoe sheet after all. In other words, the balance sheet was morally fraudulent but technically correot 1

Mr Vigers, as we have said, declared on oath that the amount was reoharged to the association. May we, to account for the conflict of testimony, be allowed to hazard the explanation that the £30,000 -will be found to be redebited not to the association, but to Mr Ward'u private account— like the

£55,150 of losses "of the association whioh were hidden from the shareholders in the same fashion 1 And, of course, if the money was not recharged at all, the fact does not make the transaction a whit the better, though it implioates the bank rather more. *

At Last- & Backbone.

On Friday 'last, for the first time, since the present Parliament was elected, Mr Seddon found a number of his hitherto most subservient followers betraying very decided symptoms of independence. The novel experience mast have astonished the Premier greatly. It was not part of the bond. They were there to do his bidding, to meekly 'follow the Government. Rebellion has hitherto been quickly stamped out, bat that which broke out over the Bank Committee was evidently deeper rooted and of a more persistent order. The truth is that the recalcitrant members at length perceive that to fall in implicitly with Mr Ssddon*s will on this banking qaestion may be attended by quite as many dangers as would- be incurred by opposition to him. Hitherto Mr Seddon has been in a position to say to his followers—practically, if not in as many words— "The Government placed you in your present position, and if you do not blindly vote with us we shall put you out at the next election." The threat has generally been effective enough ; but it has been carried a little too far. There are. dangers now on either hand. Opposition to Mr Seddon may carry with it awkward consequences at the eleotion ; but, on. the other hand, compliance wStti tbe,Pre'mier'B original scheme may bo more awkward still. Members no doubt see clearly enough, that the colony., is determined there shall be a proper inquiry into the banking legislation of the past two years ; that it would be a shameful public scandal if all the circumstances connected with it were nol cleared up. Mr Seddon has fought most stubbornly for a bogus committee, and if his followers had been as pliant as usual be would have carried it in the ordinary way. There is, however, a limit to the degree of subserviency the constituencies will permit, and dearly the limit has been Reached on the question of this banking inquiry. Members at length are asserting themselves. But what a deplorable thing that the dawn of independence should have come so late. A glimmer of it when the bank legislation was going through might have been of incalculable value to the colony, might indeed have saved it all the millstones tbat have since been hung round its neck. There was, unhappily, no sign of it when the mischief was being wrought, but only when inquiry is proposed into the nature and origin of the mischief. Better late than never, though. If from the proceedings of the past three years the colony learns the lesson that its parliamentary representatives must be independent thinking men, with wills of their own, rather than creatures who have been installed at the bidding of one man and are there to second him in all he says and does, these years may not be so entirely calamitous as they now appear.

The Concealment Committee.

The satisfactory part is' that the unwonted display of independence on the part of a ■ section of the Government following has been successful, though not , as much go as was expected. Mr Sacfdon Will no doubt carry bis own fesolatio&fl &s amended, bob 'be will be

compelled to alter the personnel of the committee. The proposal is that, the Government party should supply seven members, including the Premier and the Hon. J. MKenzie, and the Opposition four, the four, however, to be chosen by the leader of the Opposition. That is at least an important concession, though it will still leave the committee a Very one-sided affair. As the matter ought not to be in the least degree a party one, our own opinion is that it should be made up of an equal number from both sides, with in addition a Minister as chairman. Such a concession, however, is not to be expected from Mr Seddon. He knows lull well the value of a decided majority on a oommittee. The report of a committee is drawn up by vote, and although it be carried by a bate majority, and in the teeth of the evidence, it is still the .committee's report. The minority is not permitted to submit a separate report of its own. Dissent may be shown -i^ the proceeding&.of the committee and by, speeches hithe House, but the report is what the majority choose to make it. Under these oiroumstanoes it is questionable what course ought to be adopted by the present Opposition — whether as a powerless minority they ought to aocept seats on the committee or refuse absolutely to have anything to do with it. Should they acoept the position they place themselves-in the hands of the majority; and should they refuse they give the Government the opportunity to say— and we may be sure they would not scruple to say it— that the Opposition were anxious to burke' inquiry. On the whole, we should say the better course would be to take their plaoes on the csmmittee, and do all in their power to make it a success. But if the leader of the Opposition is to have the right to ohopse his men, no member of his party should be excluded. Aoting no doubt under the instigation of Mr Seddoo, a o&uous the other day resolved to exclude Mr Duthle, on the rather flimsy ground that be had displayed a good deal of bitterness in his remarks on the Ward debate. It would be a gross injustice to allow Messrs Seddon and M'Kenzie to take part on one side and exclude Mr Duthie on the 1 other. After all, the very utmost that can be urged against Mr Duthie is that from the first he severely orltioised and oendemned that banking legislation that all persons now see deserved the worst that could be said about it. If there is really a desire to know all the circumstances that, led up to it, Mr Duthie is precisely the man that should be there, and his business acumen is an additional qualification. It is dearly the duty of Captain Russell to firmly refuse to permit the exclusion of Mr Dathie, or otherwise refuse to have anything to do with the committee. '

It may not perhaps be generally known that in the oontract entered into in October last between the Bank of New Zealand and the Colonial Bank for the sale of the latter institution the Colonial Bank was required to, and did,, guarantee the accuracy of its last balance sheet. The olause in the agreement is as follows : —

Tiie selling bank shall guarantee that the balance sheet made up to the 31st of May last in London, and to the 31st of Augutt last in New Zealand, contains a true statement of the position or the selling bank at those dates, as any variation thereof appears in this agreement. • The balance sheet here mentioned was the celebrated balance sheet of which so much was said daring the hearing of the reoent application in the Sapreme Court in Mr Ward's oase, and in the compilation of which, according to Mr Vigors, use was made of the celebrated bogus draft for £30,000. Of course the said balance sheet was the basis of the contract entered into between the two banks —a fact which is indeed specifically mentioned in another clause in the agreement. Here, then, is an important item to be considered by the committee of inquiry, Was the Bank of New Zealand deliberately deoeived by the selling bank, and if so, to what extent 7 It is obvious that so far as regards this question alone — and it is a small one compared with other* that will have to come before tho committee— much commercial aptitude as well as natural acuteness will be required from the members of the com* mittee. It would simply be preposterous to ldave the isquiry.in the hands of the men Mr Beddon, had be bis own way, would like to appoint to the committee.

UNHAPPiLY-the.subjeotßfor inquiry before the committee seem to be gathering every day. The latest, turned up.in the course of the meeting of the oreditors of Mr John Ryley, Under examination Mr Ryley stated that in October last he bad gone up to Wellington (we can now rtcall his expressions of devout thankfulness for the existenoe of a Ministry that had bo boldly taken the bankiDg legislation in hand) with a balance sheet which was practically " cooked ", for the occasion— the occasion being the taking over of the accounts (or the rejection of them, as might be the case) of the Colonial Bank by the , Bank of New Zealand. Mr Ryby's avowed object was to present a balanoe sheet that would be attraotive to the eye aud facilitate transference — in other words, a balance Bheet that would show Mr Ryley as a sound client of the Colonial Bank, and consequently as a desirable client for the Bank of New Zealand— that is, for the colony practically. In this public aspect of the question is our warrant for now alluding to the matter. Mr Ryley states that the then manager of the Cblonial Bank induced him to put this special complexion on the balance sheet, but this is denied on behalf of the manager, and with the fact, whichever way it may (urn out, we have now nothing to do. The important point to npte is that it is here publicly stated that the object was to deceive "a bank now heavily guaranteed by the colony into taking over an account as good and sound which must have been at the time hopelessly insolvent. With the legal aspect— if there be a legal aspect — we have nothing to do. But the evidence seems generally to accumulate in a direction tending to show that the conspiracy whioh Mr Ward pretended to believe was direoted against himself was really 7a conspiraoy by some person or persons so far unknown to load the oolony with undesirable and insolvent properties. Here we have a wide field for Investigation— so wido and so delicate

that we can only hope it will not be left entirely in the hands of the Government following.

With the above note we should have been relieved to feel that we were done with bank business at least for this week, bub other remarks are suggested to us by the curious position at present existing, It is reported—we do not know with what truth— that Mr Seddon is again (for all we know it may be for the first time) thinking of the Hon. Downle Stewart as an Attorney-general. For our own part we do not believe that Mr Seddon wo.uld do anything so foolish. Mr Stewart is doubtless an able lawyer, and would be of muoh assistance to the Government in the Oounoil. But on the same prinoiple that it would never do to put Mr Larnaoh on the Treasury benches (which would be objectionable enough even from the point of finance alone), so it would not do to install Mr Stewart in office. And this would seem to us to be good polioy, no matter what inquiry may reveaU For if any one fact stands out clearer than another at the present time, it 1b that the colony of New Zealand has had just about* as muoh of the Colonial Bank as it dan stand for some years to oome.

The soience of ohemistry as applied to manufacture is evidently destined to produce results SB great as in other departments of human knowledge. The latest achievement is the manufacture of silk from wood. The) product is not a mere industrial curiosity, but an artiole whioh is already manufactured in large quantity in France and has been used to a considerable extent t in England by persons who bad no idea that the material was manufactured from wood, waste paper, rags, and other produots of wood pulp rather than produced" by the silkworm; for the silk so manufactured is just as much real >>ilk as that produced from the worm.- The fibre is scarcely so strong as the silkworm fibre, .but it is superior in lustre, and it takes dyes better, and might fairly be taken.it is said, fora superior quality of silk. This, too, when the manufacture is in its very infancy. The discovery was made, and the manufacture carried on, in Besacon; but a number of English manufacturers sent a committee of experts to investigate* the prooest, and they returned with rights as well as knowledge, whioh enabled them to commence the building of a huge faocory in Manohetter, with English orders, it 1b said, for as muob material aB they oould. produce before even the foundation stone was laid. The process of manufacture is curious. The wood fibre, whioh may be waste, pulp, pacer, cardboard, or rags, is broken ip in a solution of various adds, and afterwards subjeotedto prooesses more or less simple, whioh leave it a sort of gummy solution. Thii solution is forced through cylinders under tremendous pressure, until it finally emerges from delicate glass tube 3 as a minute globule, whioh is drawn out into a scarcely perceptible filament resembling that which the silkworm spins'&round.itielf to form a cocoon. When this dries by evaporation it is wound off upon revolving machinery, and forms the raw material of the silk manufacture.

This new process may easijy be the oommenoement -ot an industrial revolution which may have an important effect in England. Fortunately, the 6ffeot must be beneficial;, it Cannot be prejudicial. England, though fn a degree far inferior to France, may still be said to be a home for silk manufacture. But Franco, in,adclition to manufacture, has a share of the sericultural industry, the rearing and breeding of the silkworm, whioh has flourished from time immemorial, and still flourishes in tho countries of the Bast— in Obina, Japan, India, and Persia, and some others. But inasmuch as the new silk manufacture if wholly independent of the silkworm and the white mulberry tree, the establishment of it on a profitable basis may be the means of largely transferring the huge industry from the Bast to the West. The West originally stole the eggs of the silkworm. They we're conveyed secretly, silently, and surreptitiously in deceptive tubes to their new home from the Bast, and now, after many centuries of successful culture and manufacture, the West has discovered a means of doing away, witk the industrious and thoroughly domesticated worm altogether. We owe the'disoovery to a Frenchman, but it places England in the same position as if her climate oould produce tbesilkworm and grow the white mulberry as well as Italy or France, or for that matter- China, - India,- or Japan. In other words, the produotion of the raw material 'of silk may in the near future be as important an industry in Great Britain as the manufacture is now. Within Ihe lasb decade or so Uhina has been entirely robbed of her monopoly in tea, and now she is, with other neighbours, destined to suffer an industrial disaster in silk. Such are tbe ups and downs of the industrial world. It is the unexpeoted that happens. Who could have anticipated that wood would ever supply that fasoinatiDg material with which ladies in all ages have delighted to bedeok themselves 1