The Express.
London, England, 1849-01-18 00:00:00

LONDON AND WESTMINSTER BANK.

The annual general meeting of the proprietors of
this bank was held yesterday at the bank premises, Charles
Gibbes, Esq., In the chair, for the
i purpose of declaring a
r:ividend ;of electing three directorsn the room of Thomas
Chapman, Eel., Joshua Walker, Esq., and H. Buckle, Esq.,
who went out by rotation, but being eligible, offered them-
selves for re-election ; and for other punvies.
The CHAIRMAN, in opining the business of the day, con-
gratulated the propnetors upon the improvement in
the aspect of their affairs since their lut half-
yearly meeting, when a portion of their dividends had to be
taken from the reserved fund. Now, on the contrary, as the
report would show, their reserved fund, instead of being re-
duced, would be anima ented.
The SECRETARY lb en read thr following report :
The directors have le report that the net profits of the bank, during
the last harrier , have amounted to 37,2371.35. Id. Out of these pro.
fits they now declare &dividend, at the rate of six per cent. per an-
num. After the Pero:tent of this dividend there will remain the sum
of 7,2371. 3.1. HAD be added to the surplus fund, which will then
amount to 102,71111.16 e. 1 Id.

Dr. LONDON AND WINTMINNTIB RANT. M.T 1848. Cr.
To proiwtetort for £ e. d. 'By Oorernment o. d.
paid up cabinet 998,768 0 0 stoat, Exchequer
To amount due by Milo, and Eaai
the honk fr,e India (tondo 1,180,213 1 3
nook% circular By other roeuritles,
notes, 3,08%659 3 7 Including Milo di*
To rest, ow MTh, counttol, limns to
fund .
To proll'a of the By cash on hand .. 645,464 410
Put Wolf year.. 37.237 3 1
£4,221,151 0 5
PRDTIT AND 1,0,6, TROY 14
Da £ ad.
Tu poymmt of the
111 rid now do-
ctored. at the rate
of ti per oent per
mown, on a
tai of E 1,000,00),
fur tho half nor
ending 316 De-
cember, 1848...... 30,000 0 0
To balance ut. unap-
profits 102,711 16 11

0=351 0
'LT TO 31,T DICISI4IOIO, 1448.
C. E 5. d.
By balance of unap-
-1..315/taxi vont.
on 3otb J one. ISM 95,486 13 10
By net profit,. of the
paothalf year,after
tlyfra)ing tho total
expon.c.f manage-
ment, paYtex the
Income tax, and
fßol klrig
-0
ni
oo
doubtful det.‘ 37,17 3 1

X 132,723 30 U

Itl 11

By inisnot of may-
rro,quviittclupro.tl.v...4l.„2,723

The Cmainaux having put the question Hitt the relent
be s
!Mt, in seconding the proposition, expressed the oot
the augmentation autteanirartrofoithae. d'ivitilidetn'd hfrurr yell:: Viral: objected to the amount invested in government securities oe en addition to the report. The hon. proprietor valeta--
that there should bee general meeting twice a year: ea late!
arranged, but that the accounts should only lac elms
once a year, a half-yearly statement of accounts hie i •
ng boort
found to be injurious in its operation upon the value of their
stock. This proposition having been opposed by
weed
gentlemen,
The CHAIRMAN said that, an a matter of convenience, the
directors would prefer a yearly statement of accounts ;
they were entirely in the hands of the proprietors. but
Mr. Martenate considered that, with a board of el* 0,2
In whom the proprietary had such entire contidence,it would
be most flattering toplace the matter at the discretion et
the board.
The
seamed
suggested that bathe opinion of the pro.
prietors seemed in favour of the yearly meeting, per.
haps Mr. Tite would let the matter stand over--at all events
toe another year.—Mr. Tite having adopted this sup
the report was carried unanimously and ordered to be priee4
Mr. mAnnat,At suggested that in future the meets
should be distributed a week or ten days before each shot.
ing, and not merely on the day of meeting. He also remised
an opinion that the directors should net fill up any yr
in the board occurring between the meetings, but leave eta
appointment with the proprietors at the Ili xt mseting. Aoo.
'her point suggested was, that the district managers should be
permitted to hold shares in the company. The hon. proprietor
further suegested that a byelaw should he passed, reodenag
every director who voted for an advance to a brother director
personally liable for the amount. He objected strongly to
the large advances which had bet n made, contrary to every
mined principle of banking, upon colonial produce during the
past year, advances which, he said, had been attended with
a loss of 20,0001. to the company.
The CHAIRMAN said there certainly hod been a loss upon
a transaction of the kind referred to, but it was to nothing
like the amount stated, and the arc ,sent had been written
off. As to the principle of making advances upon colonial
produce, on the part of banking companies, this was matter
of controversy. Such advances were constantly made by
bankers, a margin, of course, being left more or leas wide
according to circumstances.
Mr. THOMAS CHAPMAN'S name having then beet pro.
posed for re-election, that gentleman, in reply to a proprietor,
said he had always held the qualifying number of shares, and
was ready to increase the number it the company thought
necessary. (No! No')—Mr. Chapman was then tnni-
meuely re-elected a director of the company, as wen also
Measrs. Joshua Walker and Henry Buckle.
Mr. JOSEPH LAmeßt said that he undentoo I the Leaden
Joint Stock Bank directors were about to pay their proprie-
tary a dividend of 10 per cent. upon a sock of 000,0001. Ins
than that of the London and Westminster Bank. In mu-
nexion with this marked discrepancy, he begged to adt the
board whether it was their rule to refuse accommodation to
guaranteed or permanent railway stock. It appeared to
him that much good would be done to the company by some-
what more liberality on the part of the direction is relation
to such accommodation. He complained that the salaries
paid to the clerks of the company were inadequate to their
services : the clerks of the London and Westminster Bank
received only from 801. to 3.501. per annum, while those of
the London Joint Stock Banking Company had up to 5001.
The hon. proprietor moved a resolution calling upon the
directors to raise the salaries of the clerks.
Mr. Ideuitse objected to the resolution as wholly
irregular.
Mr. Alderman SALOMONS assured the proprietors the*
the directors had throughout been desirous that every per-
son in their employment should be fully and fairly paid.
The CHAIRMAN said there were several gentlemen in the
employment of the board as clerks, whose le tvices had been
peculiarly appreciated by the boar!, and who were somewhat
hardly pressed by the operation tat the scale upon which the
board acted in their salaries. The board would, as COMM.
stances enabled them, gladly act upon the le, ling now mani-
fested by the meeting in favour of these special cases.
A Puoeuirron moved that the salary of the directors be
reduced from 4,600/, to 3,11001. per annum.
Mr. Idenuae objected to such a propel Lion being made,
at all events without notice, and when a large numbirof
proprietors had gone away, thinkin.;r the bu.iness at an end.
—Several other proprietors also strongly objected to the ras-
a. n.—The pr-prietor consented to postpone his motion until
the next January meetiog.

Thanks having been presented to the board of directors,
the meeting separated.

CuoLnwn.—Yesterday the following fresh cases
were reported by the Board of Health 1— Wh techspel, 2;
London-docks (en board ship), 1 fatal ; 11 .ckney (from Toot-
ing), 1 fatal ; Wandsworth, 6, 4 fatal ; Battersea, itlthorpe-
house, 1; Workhouse, Howden union, 6; Reading, 1
Wakefield, 3, 2 fatal ; Edinburgh, 2 fatal ; Olsarow, 62, 19
fatal ; Old Monklaud, 18, 8 fatal; Wilton, by Biggar, 1;
Jedburgh, 1; Se!kirk, 2: total new cases, 107, 37 deaths.

THE TOOTING CHOLERA CASES. Yesterday
favourable reports were issued by the medical officer, in
charge of cholera cues at Tooting, at St. Paneru work-
house, and the Free Hospital, Gray's-inn-road. Ns fresh
cases bad occurred.

PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY.—A general meeting of
this society was held yesterday, at the London Tay, rn ; Mr.
W. Oladsden in the chair. 'T..e secretary read the report,
which stated that the managing committee had selected what
they considered a suitably spot for the erection of a model
farm, but a friend of the society objecting to it, offered the
large donation of 1,000/. if the cite were changed for one
more eligible, and the committee had concluded arrange-
ments for the lease of a farm at Red hill. The grounds
were tithe free, and well supplied with water,
and the lease was for 150 years, with the liberty
to purchase at a stated perild. The rent was 3001. per
annum. Nearly the whole of the London estate was let on
good terms on building leases, and when it was all the
ground-rent would produce about 3501. a year The houses
and chapel had already produced about 4,0001., and were
expected to produce as much more. Nothing now remained
but to affix the corporate seal to the agreement, and to con-
sult His Royal Highness Prince Albert as to the time be would
lay the first atone of the new buildings, and which would be
at once done on the sanction of the court being given to the
present report. Immediate steps would be taken to
remove some of the boys to Red-hill. The
report was unanimously adopted, and it vote of
thanks passed to the donor of the 1,0001., whose
name at his own request was withheld ; and also to Mr
Otadeden, the treasurer. It appeared that from the Ist of
May to the Ist of December, 1818, 70 boys bad been ful-
-1 mittcd to the society from various prisons in England, and
65 discharged during the same period, of whom 25 had been
apprenticed, 19 had emigrated to Australia, 1 gone to sea,
2 died, and 18 re turned to their friends; 138 remained in
the institution ; 36 bays educated by the society would sail
se emigrants to-morrow to Algoa Bsy under the charge of an
experienced person. Some routine business haying been dis-
posed of, the court, which only sat halt-an-hour, broke up.

NATIONAL PROVIDENT INSTITUTION.-A meeting
of this society was held yesterday at the London Tavern for
the purpose of considering the propriety of altering and
amending the third rule of the institution, by rendering the
retiring directors eligible for immediate re-election, and to
insert in some one of the rules the classes of assurance effected
by the institution. Mr. Lucas having taken the chair, Mr.
Lockhart, of Dunstable, rose to move the first resolution,
providing for the alteration of the third rule. It was the
general feeling, he said, of the country members of the insti-
tution that wnen the present directors gave satisfaction, it
was hard they should be lest at the very moment when they
were getting familiar with their duties. The change pre-
pared would leave the society with hands free to change
their directors if necessary, while it would prevent their
being arbitrarily deprived of 6 fficers who had earned the con-
fidence of the proprietary. The motion having been
seconded, Mr. Richardson moved as an amendment that the
rule remain as it is. Re wished to know why, when improper
practices had been discovered in 1847, they were n •rt brought
before the proprietary ? Mr. Richardson was pr. neding with
some further observations, when helms called to order by the
chairman.—Mr. Ballam seconded the amendment. —Mr.
Gammon, as one of the auditors, felt it hie duty to support
the original institution, and should give his reasons for
doing so. They had a large amount in the hands of trustees,
say half a million, and it was highly important that its dis-
poni should be carefully watched ; and who more fit than
those who had hither o given ouch satisfaction ? The crew
that had hitherto navigated the ship so well were the fittest
to bring her safely to harbour. There was much of their
money out on mortgage, and the best persons to manage
those mortgages were those who had already been made ac-
quainted with all their details. He thought it unfair that
men who had given their best exertions, all their
interest and knowledge to the promotion of the so-
ciety's objects, should be summarily ejected.—Mr. Shaw
begged to remind the proprietors that bye previous alteration
of the rules, their power of changing the directors sea, only
limited to two, and he contended that the public competition
for those two vacancies was calculated to benefit the insti•
tution. He believed that the institution had already ben-
fited by the agitation of this question. The policies had in-
creased threittourthe since 1846, the period at wh'elr nomi-
nation in the directory was changed for election, at least to
the extent of two directors. He feared much that a elan
borough system in the direction would diminish the public
confidence in the institution. It war denied that it would
be a close borough system, that two directors would annually
be put out at the coor, but let the proprietors take
care that those who were put out at the door
were not slily taken in again at the window.
After a great deal of discussion, Mr. Dodd thought teat the
experience they had had of the integrity and high character
of the directors made it imperative on the meeting to give
the greatest weight to any recommendatien emanating from
that body. The resolution was put and envied by an im-
mense majority, only six hands being held up for the amend-
ment. Another resolution for inserting in the rules the
classes of insurance V. be taken by the institution was also
agreed to, and the proceedings terminated.
DISPENSARY FOR CONSUMPTION AND I)ISEASES OF
THE Casse.—Yesterday the first anniversary festival of this
charity was celebrated at the London Tavern. Mr. B. B.
Cabbell took the chair, and, in proposing the tout of the
evening, said in explanation of the circumstances under
which the institution had been founded, that the Hospital
for Consumption having b, en removed to Brompton, it was
considered desirable to establiffi a charity nearer the centre
of the metropolis, where outpatients could he treated. The
number of the sick poor who had availed themselves of the
dispensary had fully justifi.ei its establiskm nt. The report
stated that since October, 1847, 923 cases had been treated
b., the medical officers, ',hitt at present there were 400
patients on the books.—Subscriptions were announced
amounting to 1781.