THE FORECLOSURE CASE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12278, 10 October 1910, Page 5

THE FORECLOSURE CASE.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY.

(Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Mr Mills, the general manager of the Bank of New Zealand, has sent a letter to' the. press, giving the bank's version of •' the circumstances attached to the taking over of Capt. Hamilton's pro- >. perty, which was before the House re- , cently. He reminds the public that, m . 1903, Capt.. Hamilton brought an action) against the tank,' which/ went to the Appeal Court, and it resulted' m the judges" unanimously acquitting the bank of iariy fraudulent or improper dealing. \ He .also pointe out. that the bank's side of the question was*, never put before the Parliamentary Committee, which re--:/ ported last week. 1. | Briefly iput, Mr Mills' contentions arc, that when the bank bought the property m,- it was not worth more than the, £68,000 Capt. Hamilton owed, and had he been o-ole to make an-' offer they would have been glad to take less, and to .write off their loss. It is t«rue the Assets Board took it over at £139,000,; but that was an inflated value, aud there was ultimately a deficiency of, £52,500 to write off. The biink spent £58,000 m improving the_jproperty and perfecting the titles. The price at ; -which it was eventually sold did no more' than cover the 6utlay and interest, and in -the meantime the bank had taken all the risk, and might easily have lost heavily.' , With reference to the..criticisms on the £ct of 1889, which was alleged to have *been passed tp cover up the banks-a ction, MivMillß says that this was merely, to enable the bank to treat the assets m globo arid to facili- . tate liquidation, arid ,did not affect Capt. j Hamilton m the slightest degree. ,