The Express.
London, England, 1860-07-20 00:00:00

HS THE WLEDON AND LEAMINGTON RAILWAY COMPANY

(LINITXD).—LtABILITT or CONTRIBUTORIEB.
This company is n'w being wound up under winding-
up order made by this court. It may be remembered the
company was not formed for the parpese of making the
railway, but only to promote the object, by obtaining an
act of parliament and purchasing the plans, &c., of Mr.
Roxburgh, who was afterwards appointed secretary, a
question having been raised as to the liability of certain
shareholders. _ _ .

Hie Honour now delivered judgment. He said—Mews.
Warr and Co., being unpaid creditors of this company, have
obtained an order that the company should be wound up in
this court, and Mr. Whitmore, the official assignee, has
been appointed liquidator. As such he seeks to make Mr.
Poole, solicitor, of Southern, Warwickshire, a contributory
for nicety-five 11. shares. Mr. Poole does not deny
that he took ninety-five 11. sharer, but he says that
he has paid the 951., and therefore has nothing
more to pay. To this it is answered that Mr. Poole has
not paid the 951. to the company. Lane being joined, it is
for Mr. Poole to prove the affirmative. To do so he refers
to the books of the oompauy, kept as it would seem by one
Roxburgh, se secretary to the company, and certainly those
books do contain entries of payments of 96 sums of 1/. each
in respect of Mr. Poole's shares. But to this it is answered
by the secretary, Roxburgh, that those entries are false,
and be seems to say that be made the entries under the
direction of Mr. Poole. Under such circumstances it would
of course be a duty which a gentleman in Mr. Poole's pal-
tien owed to himself to explain the matter in such • way as
to clear himself from imputation. To do this be baa opened
this case. He says that Roxburgh bad for some time been
exerting himself to got up a railway from Weedon to Lea.
mingtoc. That he began in 1857, and further prosecuted
the design in 1858, and that his great object was
to be a ...iuted secretary to the Woded oomPeeZ•
Though t e company could not be stab is rhed in 1857,
such progress had been made in 1858, that the company was
registered under the Joint-stock Companies Acta on the 6th
October, 1868. This date becomes material, for on this day
three documents appear to have been drawn sirs in reference
to the transaction. First, there is a regular deed, dated
6th October, 1868, between Roxburgh of the one part, and
Edward Poole of the other part, whereby, after reciting
that Roxburgh had been appointed secretary to the com-
pany, at a salary of 500/. a year, and that he bad occasion
for 2001., and had requested Poole to lend it him, which
Poole had agreed to, Roxburgh assigned his salary of 6001.
• year to Poole to secure to him repayment of the 2001.
borrowed, and Roxburgh at once signed a receipt for the
2001. at foot of the deed. On the same day there was
soother paper drawn up, which was signed by Poole, Rox-
burgh, and another solicitor, Geary, referring to the mort-
gage deed and the loan of MO/. to Roxburgh, and
proposing to state what the 200/. was. The
language is odd. It is in substance this :—" The 2001.
mentioned in the mortgage is made up of the following
items—that is to say, "sums paid by Mr. Poole." (The
Commissioner here entered into accounts which represented
that Poole bad paid and received.) lam of opinion that
nothing can be considered as • payment on shares in a joint-
stock company except • regular payment into the bands of
the directors of the company or the bankers of the com-
pany, and that no irregular payment, no payment by way
of setoffor credit in aecount, can be taken as a payment
to the company, sou to bar creditors of the company, or
co-shareholders in the company, of their right to insist that
all contributions from shareholders due to a company shall
be paid to and effectually reach the directors of the com-
pany ; so that, in the event of insufficiency of assets to
meet engagements, each creditor may reoeive his fair pro-
tportiou.ributory. I therefore hold that Mr. Poole is still a con-
Mr. Doria, for Mr. Poole, asked that the order defining
the amount for which his client was a contributory should
be stayed. Mr. Poole had transferred 60 shares which he
held.
His Honour said the matter would come before him in
form. He would not hear another word on the sub-
remcferHe had already decided a complicated question, and
" sufficient for the day was the evil thereof." (A laugh.)
Mr. Poole was accordingly Axed an the list.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN CIRCIIIT.—You; JULY 18.

The trial of Thomas Kirkwood, who was charged with
the wilful murder of Elizabeth Aim Parker, at Hull, on
the Zlrd of April last, under the circumstances already
detailed in our columns, was continued after our parcel
was despatched.
Evidence having been called to prove the insanity of the
prisoner, as alleged in the statement of bis learned counsel,
The learned Judge summed up. The first question they
had to decide, he said, was whether there was iu the case
any sufficient or adequate motive for the act. To his mind
there was not a tittle of evidence to show that the prisoner
could gain anything by what he had done, but there did
appear to be some grounds for jealousy. He then com-
mented upon the facts of the prisoner sitting for several
hours before the murder with the deceased, and then
the deceased, in making her dying declaration, saying that
the prisoner had no motive whatever fur the act
which he had committed. He regarded the evidence of the
poor deceased woman as the most important in the case,
and of a character which required the serious consideration
of the jury. He advised them to consider first whether
there was a motive, because if they found that there was
not, then the ground of defence that the act was done whilst
the prisoner was labouring under an unsound state of mind
would have a double effect. The question they should next
consider was the circumstances immediately connected with

the committal of the act. He remarked upon the improba-
bility of the prisoner being drunk when apprehended. At
ten minutes pest eleven, it was shown that the prisoner wax
sober, and at 19 o'clock, when he arrived at his lodgings,
reeking with him victim's blood, it was said that be had
had • considerable amount of drink. But he could not
conceive how this could have been got without detection
in the state in which the prisoner was in the interval,
and he confessed this went • long way in inducing him
to attribute it to the state of mind which the learned
counsel for the defence had suggested. Reviewing the
evidence for the defence, his lordship said that it went beck
a long time anterior to the offence, end WWI therefore of
considerable value, soil more particularly the evidence
which showed that there had been other members of the
family of unsound mind. Having moat carefully gone
through the whole of the evidence, the learned judge
instructed the jury that if they found that at the time
when the murder was committed the prisoner did not know
the character, nature, and consequences of the act, they
were to find him not guilty ; but should they believe that
he was aware of the character and quality of the act, then
they must return • verdict of guilty.
The jury then retired to consider their verdict, and after
au absence of nearly an hoar returned into court with •
verdict of /V.>, Guilt!, on the ground of temporam iruessiZy.
The prisoner during the whole of the trial, which lasted
between nine and ten hours, stood at the bar with his bead
resting on his hands, sod it was only on one or two occa-
sions during the trial that a glimpse could be had of hie
features.
JILT 19.
Sittings at Nisi Prium.—(Before Mr. Baron Martin.)
THE tyLEEN T. LEATHAIL —BRIBERY AT WAKEFIELD.

The court was crowded this morning, in consequence of
the learned judge having fixed to-day for commencing the
trial of the electioneering bribery cases from Wakefield and
Beverley.
In tan cue the Solicitor-General (Sir William Atherton),
Mr. Monk, Q.C. Mr. Overland, Q.C., and Mr. Cleasby,
were for the Crown ; Mr. Edward James, Q.C., Mr. Mel-
lish, audible Quoin, were for the defendant.
The Solicitor-General, in elating tho case, observed
that it was a criminal information filed by the Attorney-
General, for whom he had the honour to appear that
day, against Mr. William Henry Leathern, for bribery
at the parliamentary election which took place at
Wakefield in the month of April of last year. The
charge against the defendant, who was one of the can-
didates at that election, was twofold—namely, for ad-
vancing and providing money for the purpose of brib-
ing the electors of that borough ; and secondly, that the
money which he had an furnished he caused to be actually
expended in bribing various individuals. On the occasion
of the election to which he had referred there were two
candidates in the field. One of them was the defendant,
who appeared on the liberal side in politics ; and the other
wee Mr. Charleawurth, who espoused conservatism. The
defendant was elected by a very small mejority. It was
found necesaary to challenge the return of Mr. Leathern on
various grennde, a petition was presented, and Mr. Leathern
was unseated. An addle= wee presented by the House of
Conimous praying for a ornimiesion of inquiry. On the 20th
August following a commission wan issued by the sown.
The ocinicanwiolloll bad surnamed before them a laws

inaler etproaffs•alifbew pima when «idiom was