The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-05-08 00:00:00

WILLS.
A STORY OF AN OFFICIAL LIQUIDATION.
" tderreo."
ovicteirn, orrenrr, &
(Frew the world)
the grethearmanincr maucl.hl6s-resitpecnce d totedurrehouethoefpartOvneere"ntn
Overend,
tourney, & Co. that the time had. comerttottirlannttr
their business to other hands- Their ere.. er
high in the commercial world; the partners were
reputed to be men of great wealth, and their eons and
daughters had married into some of the most renpect-
able families in the country. Greet were the feetivitiee
and rejoicings when these marmies took place, and
the " settlemente" were so liberal that the newspapers
of the day were never tired of talking about them;
everybody saw that an alliance with the Gurneys WAS
equivalent to coming into possession of a large fortune.
While all this was going on, the members of the firm
knew a few secrets which would have astounded the
rest of the world. They knew that minmanagement
of the worst description had marked the whole history
of their hewn. They had taken people's money, and
lent it their friends and acquaintances without proper
care iLlirecr aution as to getting it back again; and
they been cheated of hundreds of thousands. For
at least five or six years their losses had been not less
than £500,000 a year.
Theme were the days when a new company could
ecarcely be launched twenty.four hours without having
all its ehares bought up.. Promoters made their
fortune..., and the yearly g.ame of the chief solicitors,
who were employed in drawing up the necessary
papers, far exceeded the salary of the Lord Chan.
celhr. If a firm happened to find itself in diffi-
cultim. it had only to keep its own secret, and
sell out its intermits at a good round price to a
limited liability company. The Gurneys naturally
addresned themselves to this attractive method of
escaping from their troubles The prospectus was
soon drawn up. The shares were to he £5O each; but
only £l5 was to be paid. Never was such an oppor-
tunity offered before to the British public. The house
had long been the envy of the world; now any man
could bus- an interest in it for £l5. The trifling sun
of half a-million was to be paid for the goodwill, and
two of the old partners were to become directors of the
new company, at • salary id £5,000 • year and one.
fifth of the profits. The lucky two were Henry
Edmund Gurney and Robert Birkbect. John Hemp
Gurney and Henry Ford Barclay were among the
directors. Everybody was delighted with the arrange-
meut We have looked over the newspapers of that
period, and find numerous references to the company.
They aPe pretty much alike. The Gruner; are spoken of
an reflecting honour on the British mercantile name,
and the shareholders in the company are congratulated
on their good fortune. We cannot see anybody took
the trouble to ask why, if Overend, Gurney, and Co.
were doing such a magnificent burliness, they were so
eager to part with it. Do people find it so easy, as a
rule, to buy an interest in a firm which in doing a
lucrative business on a sound basis' Surely one or
other of the financial writers of 1865 might at least
have asked what WM the value of the assets which
the new company took over from the firm. But no
inquiries whatever were made; no suspicion was ex-
pressed. Not until the company was in liquidation
did a shareholder, Dr. Adam Thom, press the question
which we have suggested. It was with great difficulty
that he extorted any answer; but at leant it was ad-
mitted that the new company were heirs to •
" deficiency " of £1,400000,
But then there were the private estates of the
partners in the original firm to make good the
deficiency. With this assurance even Dr. Thom was
compelled to be satisfied. He little knew at that time
how ingeniously a man may contrive to settle his pro-
perty on his wife, and thus secure his beloved family,
to gay nothing of himself, against future troubles
Could we not point out fine houses and estates which
belonged to members of thin celebrated firm, and which
belong to their (sniffler; still, notwithstanding all that
has happened' Therm men rendered many a family
homeless; but was that any reason why they should
be placed in the same unhappy position' Quite the
contrary. The marriage-settlements made years pre-
viously protected them from poverty.
Borne down by the crushing weight of debt and
disaster left to it by the good Quakers, the new com-
pany had scarcely sainted nine months when it
suddenly collapsed. The crash of that fall still rings
in our ears. Upon the horrors of the few days which
ensued we need not linger. If the dwellers in the
country houses of which we have spoken—" my wife's
property "—have forgotten the sufferings of that time,
thousands of plundered families remember them but
too welL On the llth of May 1866 the great company
went into liquidation. Perhaps some writer in this
journal, a quarter of a century or so hence. may be
able to announce the final settlement of its affairs, and
state the cost of the liquidation. We should like to
describe what has already been done—to "report pro-
greet.," if such a phrase can ever be applicable to the
mysterious business of liquidation. Perhaps, if we
cannot tall much ourselves, we shall be able to induce
the official liquidatore to supply the deficiency.
These gentlemen occupy a very high position in their
calling. and we are quite sure they deserve it. One of
them is Mr. 'hirquand, of Turrinand, Yonne, and Co.
The other is Mr. Harding, of Harding, Whinney, and
Co. Both are eminent accountants. Mr. Harding was,
we believe, the liquidator of toe Royal British Bank,
and the labour he devoted to that must have been
enormous. We hope he was fairly paid for it. We
treat, at least, we may assume that he was not a loser
by the job. If Mr. Hardin was not liberally treated,
let him tell on. and we will take up the ciidgele for
him. Mr. Turquand was the accountant for the old
firm of Overend, Gurney, and Co., and Mr. Harding
for the new company. It was, therefore, very proper
that they shauld be joint liquidators. They must
know a good many things. Can they tell no, without
violating any confidence, what came id the property of
old Daniel Gurney ? Mr. Harding is, we understand,
A most obliging gentleman. Would he have any
objection to inform us how much the liquidation has
cost down to the present moment? Not one penny
more than is right and fair, we feel quite sure of that;
but we should like to know the amount—say from mere
idle curiosity. We have a reader or two in the country
who would like to know. Them country readers of
ours are very inquisitive. Well, then, Mr. Harding,
will you not step forward and say A word or two jest
to please them? Some of them, you gee. are poor clergy-
men or widows who lost all they had by those dear
ood men the Gurneys, and they would like to hear
what it has cost to wind up the affairs of the limited
company, and how long it will be before all is over,
and the story can be told complete.
There can be no doubt that the estate most have
been a most difficult one to deal with. The old firm
had lent money right and left, and the accounts got
mixed up with the affairs of the new company. The
Atlantic Steamship Company received in this way
£509315 19s—they might as well have had the other
shilling, and made it even money. This company
went into liquidation also, and Mr. Whinney, who is
a partner lif Mr. Harding, "liquidated" it. When
Mr. Harding was questioned about it, on the occasion
of the find examination of the Gurneys and their co-
director', he said he had no knowledge of its affairs.
" It is not usual for ns," he remarked, "to interfere
with each other's business." Thus Mr. Harding may
say "Good morning" to Mr. Whinney, and Mr.
Whinney may say "How do you do ?" to Mr. Hard-
ing, but neither must know what the other is going to
work at that day. The meeting of the two Roman
augurs was nothing to it. What tremendous secrets
each of these great men must be hiding within his
manly bosom! It makes us tremble to think of it.
The tad India and London Shipping Company owed
the Overends £578,218; Mr. Harding was the liquida-
tor of that concern, until its meets were taken over by
Overend. Gurney, and Co. Kelson, Tritton, and Co.
was indebted to the company to the tune of £197,503.
"The liquidation of the estate of Keleon, Tritton,
and C 0.," said Mr. Harding in his evidence, "has
taken place in our office." There must be no lack of
bushier' in "our office." We should say it wee not
one of the firms in which you could buy an interest at
rio . share, with only ela paid up. Is Mr. Harding
willing to take even one other partner? If so, we can
promise hire half London to choose from. Delicacy
restrains us, or we would suggest one candidate now,
whose respect for Mr. Harding is only exceeded by his
admiration for Mr. Whinney.
As we have said, everybody who wanted money in
the halcyon days of '65-67 went to Overend, Gurney,
and Co., and got it. The Greek and Oriental Steam-
ship I ',rummy received nearly £145,000, and yet whet
sort of a company was it? So far as we can make
out, it consisted of one man, whose name was
Stephanos :Kenos. The 'Levant and Black Sea Com-
pany' was down for about £40,000. No such com-
pany ever melded. The hfillward Iron Works'
debt amounted to £566,001 Not a penny of it was
recovered No one could take his pitcher to the in-
exhaustible well without getting it filled. Of course
Pets—the great Sir Morton Pete, the model "British
capitalist" of New York ten years ago—came in for
his share. (By the bye, where is Petra now?) Mr.
J. K C. Koch borrowed £243,069, and how much
wculd the reader be disposed to give for what Koch
has returned? A person named Brueewitz got
£54,382; and even Jones—the unfailing Jones, whose
head one sees in every crowd—took away £61,200 in
le:. pocket. We cannot quite make out what Jones
was, but Koch, it appears, called himself a metal'
merchant. Whenever he wanted money for himself or
friends, down he went to the good Quakers and got it,
and an excellent thing it was for Koch and Jones and
Renoir that such worthy men stood by ready to help
them.
To look into all these accounts, and many more like
them, must have been a most laborious task, and we
need not the assurance of Mr. Harding and Mr. Ter-
quand to satisfy us that they have exercised all due
vance and promptitude. They have made heavy
calk, two of Ell/ a share and one of £5. Some people
say that the calls alone have produced £2,000,000
Then the debtors of the company meet have yielded
something. What we should like to be able to tell the
Lpublic is this: how much was raved from the wreck,
W much the calls produced, and how much the
liquidator.' bilk amount to. And why should the
public be kept in darkness on them points' Are the
questions unreasonable or unfair! The last report of
Mr. Harding and his colleague stated that a "further
10s. per share" had been paid back on all the shares
on which calls had been made, and that they had
£17,751 in hand towards another repayment, which
they hoped to make in April —last month. Not a
word was said as to the costa of liptidation. Now
what have these costs been' Shall we put them, at •
mere go at £12,000 a year. That would amount
to 000. But even this sum may possibly be •
" MOM bite" compared with the actital costs of
the liquidation. IN it likely that 3.%,000 a year would
compensate the experienced men engsged in the work,
and pay all their clerks? We should say not,
decidedly not ; but, if we are mistaken we are ready
to publish the true figure.. Mr. Hartling can bring
them to us, or we will go and fetch them; or be can
send them by one of his accomplished clerks, and
charge us for his time at so much an hour, liquids-
tonal time Let us errange it in some way. Our
epics is valuable, bat we will give no a reasonable
Ivoriatity of it freely to Mr. Harding or Mr. Turquand.
will they have their little bill ready? Shall we
lay mint week ?
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