Is Allan Hubbard losing control.

I ask this question because Mr Hubbard no longer makes any public statements but then he seldom has. He hires other people to do the talking for him. Gone are the days when you could just pop into his office and he would be happy to talk to you one to one. That of course was before he became the richest man in the South Island.

In the 70’s and 8o’s I was Branch Manager for Broadlands Finance Ltd in Timaru and Tim Underdown was Branch Manager for South Canterbury Finance Ltd. We both competed with each other for business but always kept a good relationship and often exchanged notes on who was who in Timaru.
Even after I left Broadlands Finance and started my debt collection agency Debtor Communications Tim and I kept in touch.

South Canterbury Finance gave us some of their debts to collect and in return we often gave them some lending clients. After Tim Underdown left South Canterbury Finance we stopped getting debts to collect and their were no more phone calls sharing with each other who all the bad debtors ere in town. All of a sudden SCF were the big boys and I soon realised that they were never going to deal locally with us again because they had become a corporate company.

Corporate  Office
The other day I walked into their new head office in Timaru and I thought I must be in the wrong place. The atmosphere was cold, a man walked past me dressed in jaffa suit and disappeared up the stairs. There were no brochures, prospectuses or application forms lying around. I had to ask for a prospectus, an investment statement and an application form so I could invest my money. After I got home I felt uneasy there was something not quite right about the comany I had just done business with. It was certainly not the same friendly company that it once was.

My money had only been with them for a week when I read in the Timaru Herald that the company may be in trouble. I phoned their office and asked for my money back. The lady on the phone answered in a stern voice, its in for a fixed term I’m sorry. I asked for the funding manager Kevin Gloag and I got the standard corporate answer. I’m sorry but he is in a meeting

The question I ask – Is Allan Hubbard losing control.
My experience and observation tells me he is. I’m not worried about losing my money I’m just worried about what happens when he dies and the jaffas in the corporate suits start taking control.

The funding manager Kevin Gloag has just returned my call and told me there is no reason to panic its just the newsmedia looking to cut down the tall poppy.
He told me I could have my money back no problem at all.

Lazy Boy
I have decided take my money out of South Canterbury Finance and buy a new lazyboy chair.
I’m like Mr Hubbard I’m getting old and I’ will never live long enough to spend all my money so its time for me to take things easy and let the world with all its troubles go by.

P S This article was sent to the Timaru Herald as a letter to the Editor but they refused to publish it and failed to tell me why.