The Colonial Bank in Liquidation.

Otago Witness, Issue 2318, 4 August 1898, Page 8

The Colonial Bank in Liquidation.

TO THIS EDITOR.

Sir,— During (he la6t 18 months, while \ travelling atcufc the country, I have been reI poatedly aikcd hy shareholders in the Colonial 13ai>k how the liquidation of the batik's affairs was gettirg or. Much to ruy regret, I have hilhtrto been unable to impart any ir.forrn&tioD on the subject. To Ihe inquiries cf those who were nob shareholders I did not pay ranch heed, being iu'ly alive to the fact t'-at we have nil strength enough, ss the Fieich say, "to eappott the misferiunes of our fellows." Then as regards the three genthmen who were appointed by Judge Williams to act as liquidator! ; they have been aa mysterious and orscular as the Sphiex. Probably ihey had to take come oath, cf secrecy, which has kept them silent up to the present time-. Be that us it miy, I h&ve now ascertained, on what may be considered the very best authority, tint what I under&taijd ia tie fit al repoil ot the liquidbt'jrs was handed on to the proper quaiter some time in Fibiu&rjr last, and thr.t a copy o£ it can be obtained for the askiig. At any rate the liquidators have ceased to draw any pay since iho presentation of this report. Now, whit has become of the committee of shareholder* who under tcek to If ok after the intevtets of their fellow sharel olikre ? This committee was provided with funds, subscribed by soms of the shareholder?, and if I am correctly informed 1b.3 conmiilfcte has still a, considerable bhlance in hand. In ILo name of the Sou'hland shareholders I wou".d ask that the report should b8 published without any further lofs of time. And why has the prefs bjca asleep on its watch tower ? Like K leu's (Lead probationary tree, Know ledgb of good and evil is from thee. . . » t Aid the duwnii'.?, tongue and pen ; Aid it, hopes • f honctt men ; Ail it, paper -aid it, typeAid it, for the hour is rip 9 , Ami our earnest must not hlacken into play. Men cf thought aud men cf action cloar the way I —I am, &c, J. Walker Eain. Jnvercargill, July 23. [The report appeared in our ye6terday'd issue. We learn from tho liquidator* that with the exception of one or two small matters the winding-up cf the Colonial Bank liquidation it now d'-layed. (1.) By the delay in winding up the j. G. Ward Association ; as, until that is completed, they will not know what their position is in relation to the Bink of New Zt&land in rtspect of the " C ' list; (2) by the passiveno.'s of the eppofing parties in the cases of Connell v. the Bank ard Brooks v. the Bank. Judsment was given in those cafes in March last, and the parties have 12 months within which to enter up judgment or to appeal. It is for the plaintiff*, as institute ra of the suit, to enter up judgment, tut neither firm has yet taken any fiction, and presumably neither has jot nnde up its miud what to do. As the j'ldgmeut went it suiti'd Connell and Co, who wculd prolubly enter up judgment if it were not for the fear that Brooks and Co , who c»ma in after Conndl in the matter of priority of w&rriuta of oats, might then appeal, and in that event, if tha appeal shaild prove successful, Connell and Co. would ba in a worse position than ever. — Ed. 0. D.T.1

Tho Wes'porfc News reports that upwards of 50 cjlliers were discharged from tho Weatporfc Corl Compiiny's mine, Denniston, en the 24th, but (litre is a hope that mauy of them may be re-eagsged. The friction with respect to the hewing machines still continues, and the fear is that the dispute may bs fciksa iuto ths law courts.