The Express.
London, England, 1865-04-06 00:00:00

THS FILELIIRB OF THS 1101JTH IiANTB
BANK.

A medtibriA the shareholders of the South
Mats Bra (*hoes stoppage was aosowasel so Friday losil
*se bold oe Tuesday edweesoe, at Totterdies Hot"
Peetwei et receives atateemet estates to the positioa
the Was.
Mr. J. L draper. of rostess. we. WWI to the
char and mote statemeei with reference to the twee-
dist*, , eiroumethoori which led to the dollies of the beak

doors.
Mr. Qou,Yes Of the firm of Quilter. Ball, and Co., sc.
catatonia, of Loodou whom* heads the matter lied
hese placed) said that the bank ally closed oo Fri-
day, end on that day they were stoceeiiney taxi-
on to &apnea of the goodwill of the bask in
the beet paisiblo way, and it was cot until 12 o'clock that
they succeeded In making suck an arrangement (with the
Proviocial Basting Ostueratioo) as might produce them
2,0001. or 3,000/. At the present moment be was sot is •
positioo to make a full asd complete report OR the vision
matters connected with the bath, but he would, as far is he
was able, answer any question that might be put to him.
From the beet intern:atlas that bad bees gives to him he
wee druid the loam which would have to be made
good by the shareholders would amount to • very.
mosiderable sum, but whether it would be 80,0001.,
80,0001-, cc even 70,0001. be was neat present in • position
to say. Musk would depend epos the realisation of a very
large debt doe to the bank, which they hoped might be
relied almost in full ; or if not in full, certainly to the
manta many shilliags is the pond.
Mr. MAROIS asked what wee the amount of that account!
Mr. QUILT= said about 40,0001.
Mr. S. S. LONG.-11 yon are micoessful in getting in this
debt, will the liabilities of the hank Mill be 20,00011
Mr. Quit:rat—Yea ; end if sot, those liabilities will be
increased by something like 20,0001. That is the best ap-
proximate estimate 1 on give you.
A BRAS/MOLD= asked d there had bees any auditor ap-
pointed ?
Mr. QUILT= said he understood that there had been.
He bad looked at the balanceekeetafreco 1881 to 1864, and
he did not observe any auditor'eggnaten daring that period,
but up to 1881 the accounts had ben regularly audited by
Mr. Leon, of Peterstield.
Mr. Ittoncn remarked that 12 per oent. nu the last diet-
dend paid to the shareholder., an though the bank was
then hop4amly insolvent.
Mr. Winn, one of the dinners, mid that be had dose
his duty and was ambled that the half-year's earnings war-
ranted them in milli &dividend of 12 pee ; end 7001.
had bean pat aide for bad and doubtful debts.
From • censreation that mind, it appeared that the
bank was insolvent when the last nue of new shares took

place.
Mr. B. W. FORD, solicitor, *sired whether Mr. QuiDar
was in • positica to lay before the meeting a statement of
the mete as wrested to the shareholders at the last half-
yearly masting, February lest?
Mr. QUILTSR said he bad seen a paper which he
supposed was, or ought to be, a copy of she halattimeheet
submitted to that meeting ; but he was sorry to say there
were 0161111 *Glared as being indebted to the bank. and
certain fictitious debit. had bees placed ther•—(crias of
"elmina")—so that he believed that this belsaceeheet
did not speak the truth.
no cHAIRNAN, in a abort speech, vindicated the con-
duct of his brother, of Mr. Smithery, and Mr. Loney, who
were directors, and who, he belimed,wers as ignorant of the
affairs of the bank se he himself was, the managing &mo-
tors being Mr. 840,00 and Mr. White; but with regard to
the latter, the chairman thought that if he bad seamed at
all he bad storied innocently.
Mr. BLAIR" of Crampon, a director, said he bad • copy of
the Warms-sheet placed before the meeting in February
last, from which it appeared that the balsam was 7241.
14a. Bd. He had no more power to look at the amounts of
the patlemen who had overdraws than any shareholder,
nor did the directors know of the extraordinary overdraw
until Christmas last. He understood that them were
not leis than 15,0006, of Dotes end bills rat aside
at the time of the failure of Roy, Spencer, and Co. Mr.
Jackson (a director, since dead) 'educed those gentlemen to
draw cross bills for 7,5001., but those bills were never pro-
perly dated, and they were pot into a place and liked up,
mid were sow lost by the statute of limitations.
A SRARLROLDRR remarked that they had beau entered as

assets.
A question was asked's" to the amount of Mr. Reeves'
deficiency.
Mr. Quthrea said there wee some difficulty in extracting
the truth from that gentleman. (A. laugh.) They had put
him into the crucible as several occasions, and the best in-
formation they could get from him was that he had taken
16,0001. of bank money, but "he (Mr. Reeves) wee bound to
say that it was unknown to any director except himself."
They bad suoixeded, however in getting from Dim some
securities, which would diminish the loss to some extent,
although he believed that the loss sustained through Mr.
Reeves would amount to 14,0001. (Exprestioos of surprise.)
Mr. Wang declared that he knew soiling of the matter
until last Friday morning. It did clot appear in Mr. Reeves'
current account, or he (Mr. White) must have known it.
He was petrified when he heard of it.
The Cumulus said there appeared to have been an se-
wont book kept by a clerk of the bank, who was never
able to understsod it. He could never make the
accounts tally, and after being there a few years
he began to feel that something was wrong. He was told
to do things in this and that way, and he did so, bat "when
I got married (said the man) I began to feel my responsibility
and character more than before, and I began to feel that my
character was tarnished. I knew that there were thine,
which were wrong, but I had no power to interfere." He
(the chairman) rid, "How could you allow this thing to
go on 1" He replied that the books were kept by Mr. White,
and Were books were so kept that nobody understood them
bat Mr. Reeves.
Mr. LEWIS, of London, solicitor to the Provincial Banking
Corporation, having addressed the shareholders as to the
nature of their liability,
Mr. BLAKE, of Gosport, moved—" That it is desirable
that the provisional official liquidator should be appointed
the official liquidator of the company."
The motion was agreed to, although Mr. Quilter explained
that the appointment of such as officer we. is the Lands of
Vice-Chancellor Kindersley, who would, however, no doubt
give effect to the recommendstith.
Some other business having been disposed of, the proceed-
ings closed.