The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY JUNE 18, 1915 BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 41, 18 June 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY JUNE 18, 1915 BANK OF NEW ZEALAND.

j At the annual meeting of proprietors of the Bank of New Zealand, i'eld today in Wellington, the Chairman of Directors, Mr H. Beauchamp, followed the custom of past years by placing an exhaustive review of the financial and commercial conditions which have ruled for the past twelve months before his hearers, and at no time previously have his conclusions been more interesting. In the first place the Directors and Officers of the Bank must be most heartily congratulated on a remarkably satisfactory year's business. in every department the Bank has made sound and solid progress. The Reserve Fund is particularly strong, showing to-day the substantial figure of two millions sterling, half of which is invested in British Government securities. An especially interesting note in the Chairman's address is that referring to the staff and the number of men in the Bank's service who are with the Expeditionary Forces. The proposal to employ a number of women clerks in certain departments to enable more men to be liberated for active service, is a novel one in the Bank's history, and certainly shows the spirit in which the Directors are meeting the situation. Naturally Mr Beauchamp refers at some length to the great and profound economic changes which the war lias brought in finance, and his lucid statement of the position is worthy of more than passing notice. By the foresight of the British Government the vast stream of credit is available almost solely for Britain and her Allies. It is really wonderful how little the ordinary trade and commerce of our country and the Empire itself has suffered, notwithstanding the enormous strain which has lasted now over ten months. With shipping space overtaxed, meat and grain largely controlled by the Government, it is but natural that there should have been some curtailment in ordinary commercial business, but nevertheless our export trade has been by no means stagnant. On the contrary, returns of exports show a very substantial increase for the March quarter, and in addition there is the fact that at that date it was estimated that there were some 3,000,000 carcase of meat awaiting shipping space. The value of produce exported for the three months was, roughly, £11,250,000, as against £10,000,000 for the same period during ; 191-1. The total exports of New Zealand produce for the twelve months .ending March Hist, 1915, totalled j slightly less than £27,500,000, of which the North fsland contributes £18,000,000, and the South Island £9,500,000. As Mr Beauchamp points , out our position in these southern j lands is a highly-favored one indeed. ! This is a fact which all should ivo "■- | nise with unstinted generosity in th t ! aid and assistance in the direction il i s needed. The Bank itself has not

been laggard in its contributions, and the action of the Directors in this matter will find the most complete approval. The note regarding local bodies' loans, while probably the merest truth, will not be comforting to local body administrators, and we are afraid that the problem of finance, always a trial and tribulation to our County Councils, will be an even harder one to solve in the near future. Mr Beauehamp's references to the outlook generally are valuable and show that if trials have to be met, we may at least look forward without gloom, and that the increasing demands for our primary products should enable us to face the future without serious misgiving.