The Loan and Mercantile.

Observer, Volume XV, Issue 796, 31 March 1894, Page 2

The Loan and Mercantile.

The plain language used from the bench by Mr Justice Williams in dealing with the application in connection with the proposed public examination of the Loan and Mercantile directors and officials affords a certain indication that some daylight will be let into the history and transactions of this unfortunate concern. It is reassuring to find that Judge Williams is prepared to handle this matter without gloves, and that the reconstruction Boheme will not be assented to by the Court until the public examination of the officials has taken place.

There is not the slightest likelihood that this examination will relieve the shareholders of any of the burdens that have recently been cast upon them, and neither will it restore to them one single penny of the money they have lost. At the same time, such an investigation will serve a usefnl purpose if it Bhows in what way such an immense amount of money came to be lost, and whether the management was to blame for its loss. I incline to the opinion that some startling disclosures will be made before this examination has concluded, but we shall see.

Mr Justice Williams was very emphatic in his remarks concerning the Honorable Thomas Russell and his dealings— bona fide or otherwise. In New Zealand, the Honorable Tom was a man of great influence, and he would have been a rash individual indeed who would have dared even to level the finger of suspicion at him. But in England, Thomas Russell is no more than other men are. Judge Williamß has taken his measure, and if Thomas has been doing wrong it will all come out now.