The Express.
London, England, 1848-03-04 00:00:00

might *mule through its difficulties has petite i'
illusive—the bsnk is gone at last.
Two or three meetings have been held, at whit
two or three little matters came out illustrative dim
peculiar system of business which has prevailed hr
some time. It was shown how four-and-a-half lam d
rupees'-worth of the bank-poet bills, remitted to
Cockerell, Larpent, and Co., of London, to be bald
as security for bill of exchange •:alwn by the
bank upon thew were negotiated by the firm
shortly before its failure, the unfortunate bank'
beta fi ttes left responsible for the amount of both '
esti of bills—namely, nine lace ! It was told,
again, how the greatest part of the proceeds of four
lees' worth of bills sent to the Union Bank by the
Commercial Bank at Bombay to be negotiated at Cal-
cutta, somehow got mixed up with the Union Bank's
own funds, and were paid away in a time of pressure.
It was shown bow influential directors—such as the
late I)warkanauth Tegore and Mr. W. P. Grant—
(maid go to the cash-office, and induce the treasurer to
give virtual acceptance to bills refused by the direc-
tors of the day. And lastly it has come to light that
the chairman, Mr. John Storm, could make up his
mind to borrow Company's paper from the bank
without the knowledge of the secretary or his brother
directors, for the purpose of helping a personal friend
out of a scrape.
Speaking of the Union Bank the Calcutta Etaglidt-
man remarks
The affairs of the Union B.nk occupy a considerable
tion of our columns to-day, and the proceedings at the meet-
ings
of shareholders will be fund fu'l of that kind of inte-
rest which is commonly found in the police reports of the
metropolis. The further the inquiry extends, the more
extraordinary are the disclosures, and the late
weretary now publicly accuses one of the directors
of having attempted to purloin the government
securities of the bank, while two others actually ob-
tained by their own authority the discount of a rejected
bill, and the whole capital of the institution appeare notoffeer
been shared out amine the directors, women* to Side
.11daRtheie aecessisiso, or theie.sa-; *dense. •
OR taken the mot wafavouratde view of the
lad out rn of this unfortunate concern, and we now
hear that it is intended te propose an immediate
call upon the proprietors of 200 Co.'s rs. per shore to
meet numerous osier-due and returned hills, the holders of
which are not likely ti show further forbearance, especially
when aware, as they now are, or the most disgraceful prefer-
ences having been given to particular creditors. The feel
fug of the public is, whatever difficulties may be interposed
to prevent the punishment of thtoe who have so grossly
abused the cm ti :nice else, d in them by the sherehontem,
that the law has no punishment more than adequele to
their offence.
A notification had been published in the several
=iiiancies, under instructions from the India-
announeing that the sum of 600,0001. was to
be raised in India by bills on the hypothecation of
goods for the service of the I:ast India Company.
The advance on goods will be to the extent of three-
fifths of the value. In the similar operations of 18-12
the advances amounted to three-fourthe of the
value. The rate of exchange is fixed at Is. 100. per
Company's rupee—an increase of 6 per cent. on the
' brew exchange. In other respects the conditions of
negations are the same.
The Calcutta Star says
The exportation of specie to Europe by government at
es moment when private credit is nearly extinct, has
excited great femora in the bazaar, although the matter has
not been noticed generally. Considering the almost entire
stoppage of bullion importation from China, Singapore, and
Bur, we cannot but apprehend that this financial expe-
dient, dictated according to report by Sir Charles Wood,
will is two sr three months entail consequences not clearly
weighed, tinker the Bank of Bengal intervene: with an ex-
tended issue of notes.
We annex the summary of the Bombay Times:
Lord Dalhousie strived in Calcutta on the 12th ult., and
waa ferthwith invested with the Aire of Governor-general.
Lord Hardinge left India on the ISth, honoured and ap-
plauded by the whole community. No administration ever
commenced more auspiciously than that just begun, or
ended more honourably than that which is closed. Lord
Hardbtge proceeds by the Red Sea, and is expected to spend
some data at Aden. He therm proceeds to Cosier, from
which be cruses the Desert to rhebes, and so ele-
mends the Nile, tarrying shortly at Cairo and Alex-
andria on his way. The ex- governororeneral ar-
rived at and quitted Madras on the 23rd ultimo.
A farewell banquet was given to the Marquis of
Tweeddale on the eve of his departure, and a testimonial has
been subscribed for in honour of his services as governor.
He was to have left Madras on the 20th, on hie return to
Ragland, by H. M. frigate Fox —The supreme government
are understood to have wisely and justly determined to re-
lieve the Nissen of a portion of the contributions he makes
M the pay of those troops who are only nominally in his
same.—the subsidiary force, and the contingent. —From
Cabool we continue to receive occasional rumours to the
effect that Doet Mahomed is still preparing himself to seek
an asylum in our dominions.—Sir Frederick Currie has
been (wetted resident at Lahore : it is supposed that
on the return of Col. Lawrence to his duties Sir Frederick
will succeed Mr. Thomason as Lieut.-Governor of the North
West Provinces. Sir John Littler was about to take his de-
parture for Calcutta, to assume his seat in council.—The Ne-
paul minister it is said has confined the ex-king and his son,
and proclaimed himself rajah in their stead.—Petty distur-
bances have again broken out in the kingdom of Gude.—
Goomsoor is tolerably quiet ; the force for the subjugation
of the Rat& of Ungool is on its march towards his terries•
ries.—The firm of Brownrieg and Co., of Bombay has sus-
pended payment, and called a me, ring of its creditors.—The
public attention for the month hoe been entirely en-
grossed
by the sad spectacle commercial affairs have pre-
seated at Calcutta, disclosed to us by the discus-,
'ions of the late Union Bank. The establishment in ques-
tion has every year published its balance, shown profits, and
given dividends, when it was in reality en the eve of insol
vency. Its paid-up capital exceeded a million sterling:
nearly the whole of this was in the hands of merchants en-
gaged
in indigo speculation*, to whom the bank were in the
habit of giving accommodation of a quarter of a million
annually. They were not in the habit of writing off bad
debts, and never therefore appeared to have and.
any losses. They indulged in the system of unlimited
and unrestricted credits on bills ; and the houses of Colvin,
Gilmour, and Co., and Cockerell and Co., were a
twelvemonth tines 230,0001. in the bank's debt :
when the late commercial crisis occurred, they
owed it 600,0001. On one occasion it appears two of the
directors who were refused discount of a bill by the general
board, went to the treasurer and secretly obtained the cash
without authority. On another occasion a director was de-
tected by the secretary attempting to possess himself of a
government paper, to be applied to his own use. In June
last, the bank being in meet difficulty for money, drew on
the firm of Larpent, Cockerell, and Co., of London, the Cal
cotta branch of which owed them above a quarter of a mil-
lion sterling, for 30,0001. at ten months' date. The liquida-
tion et these was to be duly provided for long before they
became due. To prevent apprehensions of risle,lbank post-
bills to this amount were forwarded to London,
to be retained as securities till the others reached maturity,
when, if all went right, they were to be returned to Calcutta.
The London house accepted the bills. end Messrs. Jardine,
Skinner, and Co. in whore hands 30,0001. worth of poet-
bills had been lodged for safety's sake, discounted them—
the bank receiving and appropriating the proceeds. Messrs.
Larpens, Cockerell, and Co., finding bankruptcy at hand,
negociated the security bills and appropriated the money, I
end them failed, leaving the bank to settle with
Messrs. Jardine, Skinner, and Co., and of course
occesioning a loss to the extent appropriated, less the
dividend on the bankrupt estate. to the end of
October, before the bankruptcy of the London house, which
bad occurred in the beginning of the month, became known,
Mr. Larpent of the Calcutta home, accepted its bills for
20,0001., drawn at ten months, on the home firm, and appro-
priated the proceeds. The Commercial Bank of Bombay
having in November sent 40,0001. worth of bills to be sold
by the Union Bank at Calcutta, directing the proceeds to be
immediately returned to Bombay in Bank of Bengal Bills,
the Union Bank sod the bills, received the money,
arid made use of it. The bank has now closed its
accounts; its stock is all gene, and those who held
shares, and looked for dividends aa a source of income,
are pennyleae. A call of 20t., moreover, is about to
be made on each share, to meet the immediate demands of 1
the creditors : this, it is said, will be refunded with interest.
The directors of the bank, of whom the gentleman so often
named was one, were its chief debtors : they discounted their
own bills, and borrowed from themselves. As if to complete
the misery occasioned by the failure, the London Lite
Insurance Society invests 10,000/. of its capital in bank
shares, and is unable to pay the annual premium to
policy-holders. So much for the direct transactions of
the bank: the terrible system of dealing just described
seems not to have been confined to one establish-
ment. When Palmer and Co. tailed in IS3O. spreading
wretchedness and rein through so many families, Mr. Larpent I
was appointed one of the trustees to wind up the affairs of
the establishment; by degrees all the assignees gave two
have disappeared: the one just named having 'relined
20,0001. from the estate, deposited them, first in the Union
Bank, anti then transferred them to his own house, now bank-
nipt, and this loan has been sealed up with the rest. The
official assignee of the supreme court, is, or rather was, a
Mr. O'Dowda, who, not conteat with the very ample
fees of office, must make profit of the funds eons
witted to his charge. He accordingly invested 20,0001. in
Union Bank shares, new not worth one farthing, and the
poor creditors may grieve with the rent. The crisis at Cal-
cutta seems nearly over, and men's minds are composed
now that they know the worst—worse it could not
be than it is. Two bankruptcies have occurred
within the fortnight—Messrs. Lackersteen and Bro-
ther!, and John Wienholt and Co. They seem to
have fallen through misffirtune—no imputation rests
on their integrity.. Go:ere:moot have added to the general
distress by din sting half a million sterling to be shipped to
England in specie. Arniffit such melancholy spectacles of
commercial laxity of dealings, it is pleasant to turn to the
conduct of Messrs. Watson and Borradaile, agents for the
Great North of India Railway, who have announced that the
concern is to be wound up, and that Is. 3d. will be returned to
the subscribers, being the unapplied balance of the de-
posit of 2s. placed in their hands. Deposits to a large
amount in the Northern and Eastern Line project, now
also abandoned, were plaeed some time since in the hands
of Mr. Aylwin, now in England agitating the salt question.
Our brethren of Bengal seem to think that the patriot is too
much occupied with the interests of the whole population
to condescend to think on individuals, and that he will act