Disappearance of a Bank Manager. A Mysterious Affair.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 148, 3 April 1886, Page 5

Disappearance of a Bank Manager. A Mysterious Affair.

Sydney, March 24. A GKeat sensation was created in commercial circles in Sydney and Melbourne on Saturday by the rumour that the manager of the Bank of !Ne\v Zealand, Sydney, Mr J. B. Holt, had absconded. The report spread and caused excitement, all manner of curioua speculations as to the cause being indulged in. It appears that about 10 days ago, on account of certain irregularities, Mr Holt was suspended by the General .Manager, Mr John Murray, who arrived from Auckland per mail steamer Alameda. On Friday Mr Holt did not attend at the bank, and on inquiries being made at his private house, his wife being closely questioned said that her husband had left Sydney. Mr Murray states that, although a thorough investigation has been made, there are at present no grounds for supposing that the position of the bank is at all affected by Mr Holt's transactions, and there is no occasion for alarm It is believed that Mr Holt went overland to Melbourne to catch the steamer Austral for London. He has occupied the position of manager of the Sydney branch for more than ten years. During that period he has been the recipient of an excellent salary, which with most men would have tempted them to seek retirement within their own social circle, and not be grasping ever after the phantom of wealth. Not so with Mr Holt, who is said to have found himself irretrievably involved in the meshes of illstarred speculations He was noted as a far.seeing, thorough-going financier, and when entering upon treacherous speculations his adventure 0 were marked by ex treme caution. The sequel was, however, a sad catalogue of financial disaster. He wai emboldened by his first success to make more vigorous plunges. One speculative scheme after another was tried, but all with the same result. Latterly he had taken a great fancy for horse racing, but misfortune again dogged his steps. His position in the financial world was so good, and his connection so influential, that doubt was at once disarmed. The almost universally-ac-credited rumour that he has absconded is met by circumstances which tend rather 1o deny such allegations. It ia well nigh certain that £8 was all the money be had in his possession when he left the Bank on Thursday. There are circumstances connected with his last known actions which would seem to indicate an unsettled mind. Then comes the question -If he has not ab&conded, what has become of him? The surroundings of his departure are enveloped in a cloud of impenetrable m yatery. The " Argus "of 23rd inst. says : [. '* Mr Holt's friends say his departure was eith>. r accidental or due to illness, but there is nfn v°o doubt ol his disappearance. Mr Holt, when in Melbourne recently, was under L*r. Fitzgerald, who stated that he was suffering from brain disease."