Kōrero: Business failures and corporate fraud

William Blomfield’s 1895 cartoon refers to the need for the government to provide further support for the Bank of New Zealand. In June 1894 when the bank faced collapse, a bill was rushed through Parliament providing a £2-million share guarantee to bolster the bank’s reserves. Then the BNZ took over the near-insolvent Colonial Bank, and in 1895 the two banks were forced once again to clutch at government assistance.