The Express.
London, England, 1850-04-23 00:00:00

ST. HELEN'S SAVINGS BANK.

Yesterday Mr. J. Tldd Pratt held public nowt in'.
the Town-hell, St. Helot's, for the purpose et daddiag epos
the liability or otherwise of the trustees of the back, for the
several amounts which may be dee to the depositor, in the
event of the present available premeds net being sufficient to
Meet all the demands.
Kr. Aiming!, barrister, of Liverpool, appeared on bilislf
of the trustees and menegere. Messy.. Aosdell and Iladoock,
solicitors to the busk, sad several other pro'easional gentle-
men were pessot as also many of the trustees.
Since Thursday lest, Mr. Tidd Pratt has been espied in
a priva's iovestigason of the books, for the purpose of
&Mitt, upon the legality or illegality of these dolma In
MON *here more than the an of 304 has bee. deposited
Is ono year, any temps over that sum being an illritl
deposit aceneeng to the Savings 114ak Art. The leaned
barrister was engaged is titis investigation frees Toursday
Saturday last, in the course of which be discovered that in
away SWIM where as illegal deposit bad bees made, 'mous,-
lag to as meat as 70/. and 801 is on. per, an equally large
son bad been withdrawn. and la all teem eases Om barrister
halt the eaisttag claims to be good. In other case where it
=.d by the books that more than 301. bad been depo-
one year, and none of it withdrawn, the twister
lsid that the sums so deposited over and above 301. could
set be recoversd. The aggregate amount of the deposits
ffieallowed is considerable, but the e .ct sant was not up to
this afternome es:ertained. At the close of the inerstigaion
the trustees met and imensliately decided upon (ivies notice
of the payment of a Lim dividend of He Bd. in thy pound
oat of the raids of the beak, to thole depositors whose elain.s
have act been objected to, as well as spool the amount
awarded to those depod.on whose Seams have beea objeved
to, as well as op .a the sweat awarded to those depositors
whore claim have hem objested to. The aivi-end will be
pail at the Towo.ball, oa Monday, the 13th day of May
stet, and on the three following days, between the boon 01
ten o'clock is tie forenoon and two o'clock is the Attrition.
The report of the offiiisl aceountsat, ample, el to investi-
gate the affairs of the bank, tyzether with a statement of
the accounts we. submitted. la ryference to the and

administration of Meters. Jot2'll;e; who ;;;;;;und7rgi.74
imprisonment in Lancaster Cutle, the report states that :
* Balances are represented as withdrawn, though the de-
gathers' hooks show that the sums were actually accounts
current, and this especially when the balances in of a con-
siderable amount ; and these balances are placed to the credit
of the busk against payments made from the Commissioners
for the Reduction of the National Debt. The hook contain-
ing the weekly sums of deposits and payments, and forming
an annual balanoeakint, h uniformly !skilled, a as to enable
the actuary to sneer the amount drawn during the year,
from the Comminioaen for the Reduction is" the National
Debt, to meet the amounts pretended to have been with-
drawn by depositors during that period, and of course repre-
sent the seas necessary to meet the demands of the ilepo•
sitar, greater in same of various magnitude thea those
demands necessitated."
The retort further stated that, as shown by the balanci,
sheet and the sb.tract, the felsifications had tone oa coati.
sully from year to year, without any intermission whatever,
from, at the latest, 1833, to the close of tne year 1840.
The &noun a showed that the total sum invested wish
the Casamissionen for the Reduction of the National Debt,
o the 20:h of January, 1830, wee 11,9331. 3s. 5d., and the
defalcations 13,1131. 6e. 101. Toe amount duo to &pool.
ton, on the 20:11 of January, was 23,0311. 101. 3J.
Ie referent* to the alleged liability of the trustees, Mr
1 Jackson, who appeared as the representative of a friendly
society in whou name certain deposi:a had been made,
strongly urged upon bit. Pratt that all the trustees were
liable tor aLy defitiency.
Mr. Alveoli, for the trustees denied that that the trustees
must be held liable. lie promised that they would do all
they could to see the depositon fully paid, but would Lot
sekaowledge that they must be held ac:onntable if the fund.
available should prove to be insufficient.
Mr Prat: intimated that, henna gone through the se
counts, he should place some of the depo itor's claims upon
1 the footing ol bankruptcy claims, providing for all the legal
i claims under 301. to paid first in full. . .

Considerable ctneenation here to.k place batmen the
several professional gentlemen and Mr. Pratt, on the ques-
tion of the liability of the trustees, and mina warm remark.
were made by Mr. Giokell Taylor, the solicitor for Mr. Jon
Johnnie', eae of the actuaries, now io Lancaster CasUe, is
the course of which he stated that the public papers and the
ttastens of the bank had dealt hardly by him. This led to
same observation' from Mr. Cook, one of the dep atom, who
said that the Johnson' had been dealt too leniently wiit at
the recent trial, and that since that time the depositors bad
not bad so mace muff Mace in the trustees.

Mr. AsiansEl (who was one of %Ca counsel against the
primates) on the trial, sidailted that, in consequence of
weenseal objections to a conviction fur felony, the learned
judge (Baron Alderson), and Seijeant Wilkins and bintselt
concluded t. withdraw the cakes' of felony at the last sal.
wear, hat •hat the trusts's k :ow nothing about it, and wars
mach saisoya at the prat( cdicg. He (Mr. A•pinall) had
ao doubt that Ow Johns,ks wars florally gul•y of the
felony.
Mr. Haskell Taylor having spikes warmly in favour of
Mr. J..hn Johnson

Mr. aidd Pratt 'oil there could be an doutt that ei-htr
one or bota of the Jebneore had cwanti•ted a robbery on the
bank to the eateat of 12,0v01. or 13,0001. With two excel).
dews, this amount, which was in the handwrAng of Wawa
Julians, had beta abstracted. Mr. Pratt then refsrre
the cams of depwitors, and the liableit s o: the I:tutees, on
which be had been called upon to arbitrate, and, after re-
ferring to his conclusicne named in the for. goiro ; sail that
he had recommended a divider dto be at own declared of
Cre. 91. is the pound, and sugoested the appointment of Joao:
committees of tho depaitors and trustees, hoping from
that, that the full amount of the deposits might eventually
be pa.d.
Alter some dimutasios this was agreed to, acd the court
brt ke up.

THE SOUTHAMPTON PORTION 01, THR INDIA
MAlL.—lie Oriental Company's steem-jmeket Indus, Capt.
John Soy, arrived at Srutheaspvin this asorcirg, and larded
ti • hem portion of the India, mall, under the chard/
of Ll.. tit. Brady, R.N , Admiralty agent. The Indus briar
the following passengers tram Malta: Lent. Paw, 76:0
Regiment; Sargeon and Mrs. Dods late 36th Regiment;
Assistant Barran Young, postal raft. The total number
of passengers is 145. Among her cargo is specie to the
amount of 6,9301. Captain 8. P. Onsl,ar, of her Majesty's
67th Regiment, died at Gibraltar oa the 16th of April, from
the effect of injuries received by falling from his bone. None
of the Hungarian refugees have arrived by the Indus, as ex-
pired. Tim whole of them left Malta is two brigs, bound
for Southampton.

PIRACY IS TIIR WEST INDIES.—From S. Thomas
we an informed of a &gyrate sot of piney commi.teri in
the West Ladin. The American schooner, J. B. L•odeey,
left Port of Spain, Trinidad, on or alsJut the let of February.
While yet in sight of that place, at night, the mate and •
pvsencer were murdered and thrown overboard by tbecrew.
The captain was seemly woundtd, but contrived to 14CJFII
the cabin (bur ag.inst the murderers, and he' some day► kept
sheen •t bay. After ransacking the vessel for money the
miscreants took to the schooner's boat, and with an sea
attempts t to scuttle the venal, but their d.slgn was de-
feated by the cock, w►o est qui beat's painter and set them
adrift. The captain then managed to crawl on deck, and by
threateni, g to fire on the boat, prevented the murderers
from returning on beard. the boat then made for tee
Spanish Main, and the captain contrived to reach Bt. Tho-
mas in the schooner, where he was takes core of by the
Smartens consul.

SERIOUS ACCIDENT AT TIM HOUSE Of COMMONS.
—This morning, shortly before 10 o'clock, en snidest *Mole
had well nigh proved fatal to we're! workmen occurred in
the great entsal hall of the new lanes of parliament, in
that pan lending to the crypt in sooneetion with St. &s-
-pheres-ball. Several men were engaged in raising a mass
of stone weighing nearly 3 tons, intended to form part of the
eentr.l arch of it. hall, by the means of hand machinery, the
gullies being suspended from three pillar., technically
called "shear legs." The scaffolding, is consequence of the
enormous weight of the store, had been made extra 'trout,
and the men had b en cautioned to work it slowly and
eaterely. After three hour.' labour the men had eurceeded
in nine, the imam of stone to a height of between ll'teen
• and twenty feet, and they then enmanneed to " stnek it,"
' so en to keep it steady working ' • the process of blocking was
hardly gone through, whi n the ponderous weight of the
stone, which WIN teen resting on the two rope' of the hand
pulley, caused the wheels of the block to snap from
the rollers, the "shear lees" at the same time giving
wily, the stone with the cumbrous machinery suddenly
filing to the ground with en immt-nae emelt ; fortunately
the workmen while the stone wee suspended bad withdrawn
from the spot, time only rem insist who were engaged in
raising ft. In the course of the fall of the "legs" three
men were seriously injurei, heing knocked down and juin•
mid h. twin the" lege" and atone. Assistance was lame
dirtily rendered, and the men drawn out in • seaming can
di ion, end conveyed to the hospital, when it was found that
they ad sustained meet internee injuries, Cue., one iif the
sufferers, buying received a compeend fracture or tail skull,
sad Michael Donoghue and the foremast, Webb, having
received eventual Wane, the effect of which may prove
fatal to both. Cans and Donoghue remain in the hospital,
Webb brag, at hie earnest request, conveyed to hie own
hone. The escape of the sufferers from being crashed to
death is moat miraculous, a., had It not been for the shear.
legs forcing them out, the acme must have fallen upon them,
cad certain death would have been inevitable.

A LAMM Straka HININIZT is about to los built
ea the premises o the goatbseiptoe Doak Compsay, for the
refining a sturia in bond fur exportethit. It is to be seven
stories high, sod will ha calculated to raise fruit 80 to 100
tons of sugar per week. The baildiag is to be erected at the
'spans of the Dora Curaysay, but will be rested for II
pen by a le•eadea boss in the eager trade. who will eater
Into the business estensively, and import their cargoes of
eager for relining lato the port of floathsatploa direst Iron
abroad.—Saliabewy Jaffna(