GOVERNMENT "CORRUPTION."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6551, 31 July 1899, Page 1

GOVERNMENT "CORRUPTION."

" * -■• (Lyttelton Times.) " TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — I had not seen " Hansard *" /or this session when I wrote to you on this sub- I ject, but I now find it is crammed full of it, and the constant reiteration of such charges is np. doubt intended to suggest to the outside public that purity is, and always has been, the aim and object of the party now in, opposition. But has it? The present action of that party invites and justifies triticism of their past actions on the subject of political purity. I shall not waste time, nor use your valuable space, in dealing with such really insignificant matters as the recent various so-called " scandals," because they are truly only fit for the small fly of politicians. v But- since the Opposition (including, re- i gretfully on my part the Left Wing) will fill the pages of " Hansard " with such stuff, I propose to bring to light (for the public know nothing about it) a case of real poli- j tical corruption, about which, unfortunately, the pages of " Hansard " are silent, but which may be found where the public never look for scandals, viz., in the Statute Book. Let anyone who cares turn up the statutes of 1889, and he will find " The New Zealand Bank Act, , 1861, Amendment Act, 1889." The. fiftH section of that Act provides that th£j " globo .assets "'(that is to say, in plain Eriglish,' the bad debts "and unsaleable properties) of the bank may be put aside and disregarded in making up the profit and loss accounts, and then proceeds jSubsection 3) as follows :— " In., making up balance-sheets from time to time, for the purpose of declaring and paying dividends, thei Board may, if it thinks fit, discard the said liquidation account, and may make up such balance- 1 sheets without reference to the state of such ! liquidation account or the said assets, and may pay dividends from profits on current business without regard to the estimated surplus or deficiency of the said liquidation account or the said assets at the time of making up .such'; balance-sheets or paying such dividends." The case is precisely as if the Legislature had declared of A. Jones: "Put aside all your liabilities to your creditors, as if they were not liabilities, go on with your business, and whatever profit you can make, put it into your own pocket. No creditor shall trouble you." And the bank, of course, did all that. Instead of doing what correct business men would have done, in the then .condition of the bank, viz., wind it up, or give it some aid to reconstruct in a proper way, if that were possible, Parliament permitted'this Act to be smuggled through, simply to stave off the evil day. It was only able to do so, as might have been expected, temporarily, so that in 1894 the bank had again to go to Parliament to be saved by a State guarantee of two millions, jand later on, as a necessary sequence, by a guarantee of ' about three and a quarter millions more. As a result of the provisions of ,the 1889 Act the bank's subsequent disasters, and losses got shunted on, wrongfully, tg.-.the backs* of the people of the colony, wher^.they now rest; and are likely enough to rest till the people waken up. That 1889 Act was the first wrong step, and led to all that followed in legislation for the bank. • Byiwhat Government was that Act permitted' to be carried through Parliament ? .■'■*.. wis .'ty* t^e Atkinson- Whitaker Administration; arid a good many of the present lend ing ■Opposition men were, then either in -office or. in Parliament.. Were the pages of 7-.^??^ '.',.pi'.the. iaß9.'ses?ion filled .with ncgusatiohs .about ;; that. b.ank scandal? No ; ''Hansard" is absolutely silent. Wai there ii Left Wing. of the Government Party then desirous of political purity? No. A Left Wing then would not only have been justifiable^ but they could have done a service of : un6xampled value to the people of New Zealand. This, the worst political job ever perpetrated in New Zealand, was carried through" "'Parliament sub silentio. absolutely without debate, "Read a first time," " read i a second time." and " read a third time and passed"^ is if -Hansard's " sole record of- the 'transaction in- either branch . of the Legis- ' 'l^ft^. i: What*"were our political purists about 'thwV I. care not to rake up the past, '^uMhe^'scand&l is -patent on 1 the face of the 'Act^'atid it-is-' now part and parcel of ' tlre ;; < his( pry- of the colony. Let the dead past bury their dead; is. very good in its own tima and season, but it. is well the voting power 'of the. country should understand how their interests were cared for on that particular occasion, • and shoulcv learn the lesson taught by that transaction. They can, batter estimate the worth of the pro--f*si^nS.( j^^6lrt^-;pwists>pl^£e.- ( present, ;day;- wH6 : i ilien.'--f'-''- v^'r- '' >"* Art iii credulous- outsider may pertinently a«>k,.^ But how could ,the .1889 Kcan-rdal-haye got through as you say?" Mv answer is, "J, do not know, but.T give you the facts. 1 ; • A query was put the other day to 4^•5;R. a? ,to how a particular piece of business -was" got through, 'and the only an.ivre^aAe r \f^i; "H'm." ■ '* §9 j^i% that my full signature can add Shy. weight to' the facts, but as you Ver^good enough, to suggest, li'i^ referring to my last letter on the s\ibjeet, signed ."W,S, I "%Bat.l.'ou^ht to have given it in fullj.rnow^o sir.— I am, etc., \ %:; V»..^ '"i W- SIEVWRIGHT. July 2f5, 1899. '

i;uke I s'parish,''liias'Vesigned liis present ppsippint^, to Belfast;. ;^He; will • leaiire. ; His prejßßD* care^at jtiia $ad of Oofcobftr:- • "'" •' -