The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-09 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

(THIS DAY.)

COURT OF CHANCERY.

PROCEEDINGS IN PUBLIC COMPANIES.-BEFOG THE CHID

CLEItiCSI.
This day there were nearly thirty applications in
public companies before the chief clerks under the Wind-
ing•up Act. In each of the four courts there were several

THE BIILMTNI:HAM BANKING COMPANT.

There were two summonses in the winding-Up matter
under which a dividend of Rs. in the pound has been paid.
An application was made to Mr. Charde, the chief clerk of
the Master of the Rolls, to sell a ship called the Express
and other property.
The Chief Clerk said he would look into the papers.
On the application of Mr. Barter, the solicitor to the
liquidator, permission was given to sue some debtors. It
is expected that another dividend will be payable at
Easter.

In the other chambers an application was made as to an
attachment in respect of money in the Inns of Court
Hotel, and on Tuesday the matter will come before Vice-
Chancellor Wood.
In the court of Vice-Chancellor Stuart the case of
" Harper Twelvetrees " was in the list, but it stood over.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
(Before Mr. Registrar Roche.)
TN RE HOWARD ASHTON HOLDEN.

The bankrupt was described as of 2?4, Queen-street,
City, and of Clifton-house, Clifton-gardens, Maids-vale,
contractor for public works. He had been en-
gaged se contractor in the construction of
the European Central Railway and other lines
upon the Continent end elsewhere. The adjudication
was upon a creditor's petition, that of Mr. J. H. Ships/ay,
of Westminster Chambers, Victoria street, Civil Engineer,
and consequently no accounts have yet been filed, but
the liabilities are said to reach 800,0001., and the
Meets are believed to be considerable, but depend
in a great measure upon realisation. In order to
avoid bankruptcy efforts had been made to wind up the
estate out of court by means of a deed of inspectorship,
but the requisite assents not being obtained the deed fell
through.

This was a sitting for choice of assignees, but the pro-
ceedings were not concluded when our report left.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
(THIS DAY.)

(Before Baron Pigott.)

TRIAL OF THE MANAGER OF THE JOINT STOCK DISCOUNT
COMPANY.

Mr. James Freding IVilkinson, the late managing
director of the Joint Stock Discount Company, surrendered
to take his trial for misdemeanour, in having unlawfully
and fraudulently appropriated two several sums of 4,000 f.
and 8601., a portion of the funds of the company, to his
own use.

The case appeared to excite very great interest, on
account of the position occupied by the defendant among
the mercantile community in the city of London, and from
the circumstances connected with the alleged offence.

Mr. Ciffard, Q.C., we. specially retained, with Mr.
Poland and Mr. F. H. Lewis, to conduct the prosecution ;
Mr. Coleridge, Q.C., and Serjeant Ballantine, specially
retained, with Mr. Sleigh and Mr. Sargood, appeared for
the defendant.

This charge was preferred under a special act of parlia-
ment which enacts that any manager or director, or public
officer of any company, who shall appropriate any portion
of the funds of such company to his own use shall be guilty
of misdemeanour, and being convicted thereof shall be
Liable to such punishment, fixed by the act, as the court
shall direct. The defendant was the managing director of
the shove-mentioned company, and the case on the part of
the prosecution was that he had been largely engaged in
share transactions on the Stock Exchange, his brokers being
Messrs. Capper, Escombe, and Lawson, and that in the
month of August, 1863, there was a balance of 4,000/. due
to those gentlemen for a large numberof shares in the Joint
Stock Discount Company that had been purchased
when they were at a considerable discount, and that the
defendant gave Mourn. Capper a cheque for that amount
upm the hankers of the company, which was paid out of
their funds. A similar transaction was represented to
have taken place in the month of November, when the
sum of MO/. was paid for other shares in the company
that had been purchased by the son of the defendant, but
which were transferred to him and paid for by a cheque
upon the company's bankers' out of their funds. It
was alleged on the part of the prosecution, that in
order to conceal the real nature of the transaction
the defendant had caused entries to be made in the
books of the company, by which it was made to
appear that the two sums mentioned had been
handed to Messrs. Capper and Co. as loans in
the ordinary course of business upon the security of the
shares that had been purchased, this allegation being,
however, positively negatived by those gentlemen, their
evidence being also to the effect that the money had been
given in payment for the shares that had been purchased
upon the private speculation of the defendant. The com-
pany, of which the defendant was the manager, stopped
payment just before the great money panic last year, and
its affairs were wound up under the supervision of the
Court of Chancery, and in the course of the investigation
of the accounts by Mr. Harding, the upend liquidator, the
irregularities that were now the subject of inquiry were
discovered, and the present prosecution was instituted by
the direction of the Court of Chancery against the defen-
dant.

The learned counsel for the prosecution, in opening the
case to the jury, said that it was one of considerable ha-
portance to the mercantile community. The charge was
formed under a special act of parliament that was passed
in the year lied, and the object of which was to prevent
persons who had the control and management of public
companies from making use of the funds of such com-
panies for their own private purposes, and the offence
imputed to the defendant was that he bad applied two
several sums of 4,000/. and 5601. in the payment of shares
that he bad purchased for his own private account,
and the ease on the part of the prosecution ap-
peared to him to be very plain and simple. He did not
nosrwhether an attempt would be made to establish the
fact that the defendant had the authority of his co-direc-
tors for what he had done, but it appeared to him that if
this fact should be established, the defendant would still
be liable, as the object of the act of parliament was to
protect he shareholders of the company and prevent their
funds from being improperly expended.
The evidence for the prosecution was then proceeded
with.

The case is likely to occupy the whole day.
(Before Mr. Justice Slice.)
IfEkloUt4 CHARGE GP ARSON.

Fro brick Bicknel , a respectable-looking man, described
as 27 years of age, and by trade a cooper, was indicted for
unlawfully, maliciously, and feloniously setting fire to his
dwelling-brume with intent to injure and defraud the Liver-
pool and Globe Insurance Company.
Mr. Metcalfe, with whom was Mr. Straight, appeared for
the prosecution, and Mr. Ribton defended the prisoner.
The opening statement of Mr. Metcalfe disclosed that
some time in September last the prisoner entered into ecru.
pation of the house and shop in question, situate in the
Queen's-road, Counnercial.road East, where his wife cur-
ried on a small light business, including crinolines and
other articles of female attire. On taking possession of
the premises the prisoner brought in • small quantity of
household furniture, and also an inconsiderable stock-in-
trade, the value altogether not exceeding 70/. On the 7th
November last the prisoner effected an insurance with the
Liverpool and Globe Insurance Company for the sum of
400/. on the furniture and stock in trade. On the
sth December following • fire broke out in the
, premises, which on examination was found to have been
wilful and intentional, and could not bate been acci-
dental. The question for the jury would be by whom the
premises bad been set on fire. It appeared that on the
night of the fire, the prisoner sent his wife, two of the
children, and the female servant to Weston's ?dude Hall,
and at half-past 9 o'clock he and a man named Stricknell
I were alone in the house, a female attendant having been
sent away after procuring, by the prisoner's orders a
quantity of paraffin oil. Shortly after 11 o'clock 'the
prisoner and Stricknell were seen to leave the premises by
the back door, and in three quarters of an hour afterwards
one of the neighbours discovered that the house was on
fire, and raised an alarm. The engines arrived, and the
fire having been subdued, the police made an examination
of the premises, and discovered that the fire had
broken out in two placed, namely, between the
ceiling of the shop and the flooring of the
bedroom above, and also between the ceiling of the hack
parlour and the room over it. Both these places were
stained and had been saturated with paraffin oil, as were
also • quantity of crinolines which were hanging up in
the shop. The paper on the walls in the upper rooms
had been torn down from the height of five feet and hung
in festoons capable of speedily igniting, and the shelves in
the shop and parlour had also been impregnated with
paraffin oil, and underneath each were discovered • large
quantity of partially burnt paper. A f urtherpreparation had
been made with • view to conceal the existence of a tire by
nailing up before the fan-light over the hall door part of
a cellar door, which had been cut up after 9 o'clock the
same night, as would he proved by the female attendant,
who was sent away by the prisoner at that hour. These
were the facts on which the jury would have to say
whether, on being proved in evidence, they were of opinion
that the prisoner has been guilty of the act imputed to
him by the present indictment.
The examination of the witnesses to support the ease
for the prosecution was proceeding when our report left ;
and the case is expected to occupy • considerable portion
of the day.

Tax RAINFALL OF 1866.—The extreme rainfall
of the last year has been most apparent among the hills of
the north-west of Yorkshire, being nearly 90 per cent. over
the usually large fall.