THE PEOPOSED NEW NATIONAL BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

Taranaki Herald, Volume XX, Issue 2046, 16 November 1872, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE PEOPOSED NEW NATIONAL BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

A peoposed new National Bank of New Zealand has been announced in the London Times. The directors are — C. Magniao, M. P. (Matheson and Co.), chairman j D. It. Smith (Samuel Smith Brothers, Hull), deputy-chairman ; and Colonel Gore Browne, Sir Charles Clifford, A. G. Dallas, Dr. Featherstone (Agent-General New Zealand), W. S. Grahame, (late a London direotor of the Bank of New Zealand), E. B. Hoare (Barnetts, Hoares, and Co., bankers) , John Morrison, and W. Whitbread. The actiug secretary is Mr. James Beattie. The object of the new bank is stated in the prospectus as follows :—": — " The object of the formation of this institution is to extend to tbe Colony of New Zealand the additional banking accommodation which the recent rapid increase of the population and remarkable development of the mineral, pastoral, aud agricultural resources of the Colony so nrgeDtly demand ; and the intimate acquaintance of the founders with the position and requirements of the Colony enables them to submit, with confidence, a soheme for tbe establishment of the National Bank of New Zealand." Statistics are quoted of the business done by the respective bauks, and particulars are given of the population of the Colony, the land under cultivation, &o. The gold-fields also come in for a fair share of notice, and altogether the prospectus is made rather attractive. The prospeotns also contains the following particulars : — Capital, £2,000,000, in 200,000 shares of £10 each, whereof the first issue will consist of 100,000 shares, of which one-third will be reserved for New Zealand. The amount of capital paid up, it is proposed, shall not exceed £6 per share, and application will be made to the Colonial Legislature for an Aot authorising the bank to issue noteß within that Colony. It is intended to take over the business of the Bank of Oxago, and extend its operations to other places in the Colony. As evidence of the scale upon whioh the establishment is to be conducted, the remnneration of the directors is to be £3,000 per annum, and upon payment of annual dividend at the rate of 8 per cent., £1 ,000 will be added to sach remuneration. It is furcher arranged that, should that rate be exceeded, for each 2 percent, in excess, £1,000 annually will be devoted to this purpose.

Exemption of Members op the Press peom THE Jury List. — With regard to the exemption of members of the Press from the jury lls*-., we find the following in the Cornwall Chronicle :—": — " At a reoent sitting of the District Court ac Warwick, Queensland, the Judge gave a decision, noi on a point of law, bat of practice, to whioh there can •be bo reasonable objection. His Honor Judge Blakeney stated that he had always allowed mem- j bera of the Press to be exempt from serving on juries, and he should give instructions to the registrar that tke rale shonld te strictly carried | out here. He considered it viry important that those who were connected wi.h the Press shonld cot be HaWe to serve on jari«B. The Jnry Act dees not especially exempt meabers of the Press ; bat it wonld be at least as muh to the publio interest that they should be fro from serving on juries as that the privilege sh>uld be accorded' to -every petty Government oflfcial. The qaestion was brought before his Honor the Chief Justice, Sir Valentine Fleming, as fa- back as 1864, by a member of oar staff, Mr. George Stewart, at a sitting of the Supreme Conr. in criminal jurisdiction in Launceston. He jbjected to serve on • the jory od two grounds — fiist, becanse ifc would interfere with his duties, anl prevent him from ; reporting the proceedings; and, secondly, because he oonld not go, like ihe other jurors, unbiassed into tbe box to be guided to a verdict by the evidence bronght befort the Goart, and by that only. In many cases he had taken evidence against tho prisoners for other offences, and had also taken the evidence upon which they were then committed for trial. His Honor admitted these to be strong reasons for exempting members of tbe Press from serving on juries, bat as the Act did not Bpeoially exempt them, he declined to do so. Mr. Stewart next applied to the then Attorney-General (Mr. R-. B. Miller), who was conducting the Grown prosecutions, and that gentleman challenged Mr. Stewart as often as he wai called aa a juror, and objected to his being sworn." The Carhot Grub. —^Tha following is the plan I have adopted for many years (says a writer in the Sydney Mail) and nover lost a crop from grub or anything else : — In antnran, when the ground is arranged for next year"c cropping, the carrot quarter is among the first to get attention. With a liberal dressing of decomposed dung, tho ground is then trenched from eighteen inches to two feet deep, and put ap in ridgas. Ail tho refuse from • the former crop, whatever it may have been, ia put in the bottom of tbe tranches, which keeps the ground open. Is this state it remains till the time for sowing ; the ridges ata then levelled down, and the ground gets a dressing of. wood ashes, not less than half-au-inch all over, this we did in ono spit deep, making the ground level at the same tune, after which ifc has a good dnsting of soot on the enrfaoe. The ground is then ready for tho seed; tbe drills are draws, and the seed sown in the tua&l waj.