The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-07-20 00:00:00

BLANDPORD.

Messrs. Oak and Snow's certificate Meeting failed to
supply any additional information of the bankrupts'
banking transactions. It is evident from the report
of the proceedings in the Bankruptcy Court, that
both Mr. Lawrence am( Mr. Linklater had much
weighed the damaging nature of the facts to be
brought against their clients, and were probably
not a little staggered to find, when in Court, that
those facts were to have, supplemented to them, orb.
deuce of additional transactions strikingly opposed
to their clients' interests. If previously aware that
these additional transactions bad been taken under
the especial charge of the Eon. and Rev. S. G.
Osborne, and were to be brought before the Court
by Mr. Roxburgh, they might have too lightly
estimated their importance, and therefore inade-
quately determined on the opposition to be urged
against them. Whether their suggesting an adjourn-
ment of the proceedings arose from a desire to give
greater consideration to these transactions, or sprang
from the hope that during the intervening six
months the ardour of their opponents would relax,
and if not, that some fortunate circumstance would
weaken the determined resolve of those who lead
and shape the coarse of the ereditors, one or the
whole of these reasons might have influenced Mr.
Lawrence and Mr. Linklater to suggest an adjourn-
ment, But these legal gentlemen should remember
that a rotten cause is never made sound by time and
agitation, and that therefore links wanted to complete
a long chain of evidence against their clients may be
supplied during the next six months. It is well
known to the public here that there have been many
more equivocal transactions conducted by the liank•
rupta during their banking career than those already
brought against them, and that a knowleige of those
transactions must be possessed by more persons than
the bankrupts. It may be, therefore, that the next
six months will reveal much, and that the history
of Messrs. Oak and Snow's failure may be charac
terized by unexpected public disclosures, as great,
if not greater, than those which have sometimes come
to light when a suspension of certificate has lulled to
security the bankrupt and his confederates, or the
obtainment of a oertificate made them indifferent to
danger. Should such disclosures follow the adjourn.
meat, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Linklater will not
have to congratulate themselves on the success of
the step they have taken ; but rather to regret that
their want of professional sagacity has strengthened
the canoe of their adversaries and weakened that of
their clients.

.....
The non-professional public here are at a loes to
understand how the law question to be decided re-
lative to the £3,000 guaranteed to Glyn and Co., and
now in their possession, could posailily affect the
granting or otherwise ,;f certificates to Messrs. Oak
and Snow, or be pleaded by Mr. Lowrance as a
reason for the adjournment. Either this sum must
help to swell the dividend by going to the estate.
and thus saddling those who signed the guarantee
with its future payment, or will be retained by Glyn
and Co. to ifleet the gueantee they hold as security,
and thereby release those who signml it from the
responsibility they havo incurred. We certainly
hops that the latter will be the legal decision, slime
we believe the gentlemen who assumed the re•
sponsibility did so under the impression that they
were meeting but a temporary ditliculty, and uphold.
lug the interests of the public here by doing so; still,
let the decision be in favour of the one or the other
of the issues named, it seems impossible to conceive
how the question can have more than a slight moral
intluenoe for or against the bankrupts, and to
adjourn the examination on such or similar grounds
must imply a weakness in the defence to be urged in
their behalf. If Messrs. Oak and Snow's failure hail

been the result of ordinary loss or misfortune we
could conceive that the hope of future law proosed..
logs adding to the dividend, and in 001140f1U01100
biasing the-Court in favour of the bankrupt', would
Induce Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Linklater toatklourn the
examination ; but when it is considered that Messrs.
Oak and Snow's bankruptcy is characterised by ax•
tmordinary features, that they have to meet charges
alleged against them of insolvency from the coin.
me:moment of their, partnership, undue application
to their private purpose, of the capital of their cum
turners, unjustifiable preferences, and many minor
pads (denims, then it strikes us that asking for an
uljournment, under such circumstances, smacks of
dotty professional evasion on the part of their legal
advocates, and may very probably prove prepuliwal
to their cause when it comes before the Commissioner
for his adjudication
Neither time nor circumstance can blot out or
mitigate the enormity of such commeroial Wryness ;
and if Messrs. Oak and tinow shall be proved to have
been guilty of them, no professional tattles can avert
the brow which a just administrator of the law will
feel compelled to infliot. —Corraspondent.

BLANDFORD AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The annual ploughing match, in connection with
this society, took place on Saturday, the 17th
instant, on the farm in the occupation of Mr. H. F.
Fisher, at Denary Court, when fifty•ono ploughs
competed for the various prises. A large attendance
of members and their friends, together with a great
number of ploughmen and boys, who appeared to
take great interest in the proceeding. of the day,
rendered the appearance of the field exceedingly in-
teresting. The work, considering the dry and hard
state of the land, was done in a very superior way,
particularly the ploughing by the oxen, which fur
nished fifteen competitors in the several classes.
The judges—Mr. Philip Hill, Mr. Cave, and Mr.
George Hill—expressed themselves well pleased with
the work, and gave their awards as follows: