The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-03-02 00:00:00

E.• d.
631 18 3

Palmated to realize .. 17091 0 9.... 17,091 0 3
Property unencumbered

Total of assets
A dividend of 7s. 6d. in the pound was offered, 5s
to be paid at the expiration of a fortnight from
the time the meeting was held, and 2s. 61 at
some subsequent period. No guarantee to secure the
payment of the whole of the dividend offered was
forthcoming, and, as a matter of course, the offer did
not come before the meeting in a very palatable
form. A long discussion took place as to the liabi-
lity of the estate to meet a certain bond or bonds
which had been given by a number of gentlemen re-
sident in the neighbourhood to Messrs. Glyn and Co.
of London, as securities for advances lately made to
Messrs. Oak and Snow. The subject involved much
legal doubt and difficulty, and could not be satis-
factorily discussed at a meeting of upwards of 200
creditors, who required more intelligible information
on the bank's position to liquidate its pecuniary ob-
ligations. Much dissatisfaction was subsequently
expressed relative to the rumoured monetary trans-
actions conducted by the bank immediately previous
and subsequent to its suspension. No information of
a satisfactory character having been given on many
doubtful points touching the accounts mooted at the
meeting, it was prop.sed by the Rev. Moss King and
seconded by T. H. Bastard, Esq., that a committee
of creditors be appointed to re-investigate the ac-
counts through their own solicitor and accountant.
It was also tacitly agreed on by the creditors present,
that no legal steps should be taken against the insol-
vents previous to a report on the state of the affairs
of the bank being submitted by the committee at a
subsequent meeting. It was stated by Mr. /daynard's
representative, that Mr. Snow brought into the con-
cern when he first joined it a sum of £1,500 ; and
we believe his partner, Mr. Oak, had previously con-
tributed a similar amount to the bond fide capital of the
bank. These two amounts made up the total of
capital invested by both partners, and represent the
all but entire personal pecuniary responsibility
incurred by Messrs. Oak and Snow in connection
with the bank.. Each partner withdrew from the
profits or capital lodged in the bank an annual sum
of £5OO to meet the demands of private expenditure;
which sum, looked at in relation to their social. posi-
tion and the pecuniary equivalent they were justified
in expecting as proprietors and of a bank,
does not appear extravagant. Viewed,
however, in
relation to their slight pecuniary involvements and
the probable annual protrts of the business they con-
ducted, it may be a larger sum than each partner was
justified in withdrawing. The committee have
chosen M. K.. Welch, Esq., solicitor, Poole, and J.
Randall, Esq., accountant, Wimborne, to re-investi-
gate the bank accounts; and from the known honour
and ability of the two gentlemen employed, and the
investigating habits and mental qualifications of the
gentlemen comprising the committee, it may be rea-
sonably hoped such a result will be arrived at as will
prove satisfactory, relative to the inquiry itself, to
the minds of the creditors as well as to the public at
large.
The balance-sheet laid before the creditors at the
meeting shows a total of good and bad debts amount-
ing to £33,224 I2s. 3d.: deducting debts not re-
coverable amounting to £16,133 12s, there remain
realizable debts to the amount of £17,091 Os. 3d.
Now, it does appear to us, and we believe to a majo-
rity of the creditors, that if the nature of the debts
not recoverable, whether they have accrued from
losses or unsecured overdrafts, bad investments or
railway or other speculations, be distinctly shown to
the creditors at the next meeting, that the most
satisfactory and convincing evidence as to the prin-
cipal causes of the bank failure, and the extent of
mismanagement to be attributed to Messrs. Oak and
Snow, would be conclusively demonstrated. A like
analytical process applied to the debts estimated to
realize £17,091 Os. 3d. would afford to the minds of
the creditors proper grounds for assessing in their
judgments the probability of the estate when realized
paying the dividend offered. It would be injudicious
to speculate on the course of investigation adopted by
the committee, but we cannot but express the hope
that the moral as well as the pecuniary features of
the case will be satisfactorily disposed of by the kind
of judicial inquiry now going on, and that bank-
ruptcy proceedings will not be allowed to absorb the
means available for the benefit of the creditors.

The creditors of Messrs. Barnes' estate having per-
sisted in refusing the offer of 4s. in the pound,
Messrs. Oak and Snow have taken possession, by an
execution, of the asets intended partly to meet the
dividend offered, and thus shut out the hope of an
arrangement being effected more favourable to the
views entertained by Messrs. Barnes' creditors. The
course adopted by Messrs Oak and Snow may secure
immediately to their estate about £6OO, but must
operate as an effectual bar to their receiving, by an
arrangement with Messrs. Barnes' creditors, 45. in
the pound on their entire claim of £lO,OOO, which
dividend would have amounted to £1,400 over and
above the £6OO now secured, and which was calcula-
ted on as receivable to mend any dividend payable
on the bank estate.

PETTY SESSIONS, Saturday. Present, Lord Portman,
W. P. Okedon, Esq., and the Rev. John Watta.
JGSe Hall WM summoned by Mr. Henry Frampton
for stealing a quantity of swede greens. Fined is. and
9s. costa.

--A-n7i Moores, of Shaftesbury, wm summoned by
P.C. Denison for riding in his wagon asleep through the
streets of Blandford on the 2nd ult. Fined 2s. 6d.
and 9s. costs.

James Pope was summoned by P.C. Webb for riding
without reins in the parish of Blandford St. Mary.
Fined 2s. 64. ;no costs. -
John Lodes was summoned by P.C. Webb for an as-
sault on Saturday the 21st ult. The prisoner having
pleaded guilty and expressed his contrition, the magis-
trates fined him only 18. with 9s. costs.