Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-12-30 00:00:00

good, was place 1 in the margin, because if they turned
out bad that would increase the liabilities; but they
did not consider they would, and they were not there-
fore taken into the estimate of liabilities.
The CHAIRMAN said that the liquidators would be
glad to furnish any furtherinformation which they could,
if it was desired.

Mr. i3L1711 Tsaid he would be "glad to have a little
further information, more especially with regard to the-
expenses of the management. The account was not quite
so lucid as it might be made, and he thoug•ht, the differ-
ent items might be made separately. Under the head of
general charges, there was an item, "salaries stationery,
stamps, taxes, &c.," £2,200. He should like to have
known the exact amount of salaries, and the other items
separately. Then they came to " solicitors and accoun-
tants," £3,080. The previous year this amount was also
very serious, and they might be keeping a batch of soli-
citors in the establishment. (Applause.) The solicitors
and accountants seemed, at all events, to derive a princely
revenue from the shareholders' misfortunes. (Hear,
hear.) He should like the solicitors' charges to be read,
so that they might see whom they were paying. Then
came the remuneration to the liquidators,
£3,456 16s. 7d. He believed that was a matter of
bargain, and those gentlemen no doubt had done their
best to make the most of the assets of that bank; their
duty might have been a very arduous one, and they
might have the benefit of the "best services to be found
if necessary; but he considered that beyond the realisa-
tion of assets they had other duties to perform. They
had lost, through the parties who had had the direction of
the bank, over a million of money. They had been told
by the chairman of the bank, at the last meeting, that
their property was intact, and he would be glad to know
from the chairman whether any steps had been taken
against those gentlemen through whom they had lost
so much money. (Applause.) He thought they were
both morally and legally liable to make good the
' deficiencies so far as they were able. (Applause.)
From facts that bad come to his know-
ledge, he could assure the meeting that they
considered the deed of settlement as nought, and some
of the most important clauses had -been disobeyed by
them. Ho considered the liquidators had not only to
make the most of the assets of the establishment, but he
thought it was their business to go further, to assure
the meeting that it was their intention to endeavour to
recover a portion of the loss which they had sustained,
through the bad management and dereliction of duty of
those who had the management. (Applause.) He
should like to know something further upon these
subjects.
Mr. BANNER stated that the total of the general'
char,ges was £5,283, ss. 2d., which consisted of clerks"
salaries and a porter's wages, amounting to £1,381,
16s. 2d. • Mr. Sellar's salary up to the time of leaving,,
£350 ; Office expenses, rates, and taxes, £205, Os. 7db. ;
law charges, £563 is. ld. ; accountant's charges, £517,
ls. 9d.

The CHAIRMAN said the question put to him by Mr.
Blythe was, whether the liquidators had taken proceed-
ings, and whether it was their intention to do so.
Before answering that, he would call to the recollection
of the meeting, that at the meeting last year the salve
question was put by another gentleman, and the answer
was given to him that the liquidators had not seen
reason to justify their taking any proceedings against
the directors of the bank, No alteration bad taken
place in the views of the liquidators on the subject.
Certain gentlemen had made application to the Master
of the Rolls to have an inspection of the books by an
accountant, and they were in possession of a report by
that accountant, and were equally competent to form an
opinion on that subject. Mr. Blythe had expressed an
opinion, but the liquidators, as at present advised, did
not feel called upon to take any proceedings. If they
did take proceedings, the first thing they would have to
do would be to expend a portion of the assets of the
bank; and unless they were instructed by the Master of
the Rolls, they did not think they would be justified in
taking proceedings.
M. J. BRAMLEY-MOORE said—Mr. Chairman, the
person that you allude to as having put a question to
you last year I believe was myself ; and I must say I
am much surprised, after the lapse of a year, you should,_
not be in possession of more information than at that
time, in order that you might give a decided opinion
upon this matter. (Applause.) Because there is no
doubt whatever that you have had ample opportunities
of examining the books and searching into matters
connected with the management of this bank, and plenty
of leisure no doubt to do it ; so as to be able to state to us
some good reason why it was not necessary or incumbent
upon you to take any measures in the interest of the
shareholders. You specially represent. the interest of
the shareholders; and therefore to you more especially
we looked that our interests should be attended to ;
though I hold it to be the duty of every one of the
liquidators to examine those matters and to give us a
fair account whether the management has been such as
to justify the opinion you have given, or whether it was
such as to justify you in asking an opinion from .the
shareholders, whether initiatory measures should Ise
taken by the shareholders or not. (Hear, hear.) And
if the liquidators had not the moral courage, or were
not disposed to take those measures themselves, they
ought in this case to have appealed to the shareholders:
for their support in taking measures fur the
protection of the shareholders. (Hear, hear.) Since
that time we have—by we, I means the share-
holders—obtained certain information at great cost; and
I maintain the liquidators might and ought to have
given it to us free of cost. (Applause.) But we are
now in possession of information which, with the per-
mission of the meeting, I will give them a skeleton of ;
and if they do not agree with me that some measures.
ought to be taken, I shall certainly be very much
surprised, and I shall be inclined to give up the matter
altogether as hopeless. Now, sir, as I said, my statement
shall only be a skeleton, because if I were to go into the
mmutin and detail of the matter, it would occupy a vei
long time, and become very tedious probably to the meet-
ing. Therefore I shall just advert, first, to the very slight
history of the bank. The business of the bank was con-
ducted up to 1841 upon this sound principle, that when-
ever a debt became bad or doubtful, it was written off
as such, and so remained till dividends were brought to
its credit from parties owing money to the bank. In
consequence of the bank getting into accounts which
they were afraid probably to lay before the shareholders,
they gave up that wholesome principle, and opened a
bad and doubtful debt account. That went on till 1846.
At that time there was a very heavy failure, which made
a great noise at the time, and I believe there is no
delicacy required in mentioning the name ; but up
to that time all the reports of the bank—all the state .
ments which were laid before us by the directors—l be-
lieve were duly and properly signed, in accordance
with the deed of settlement. But, from 1848 and 1849,.
there never was one single statement to the closing of the
bank signed in accordance with the deed of settlement—
during the whole of these ten years. (Applause.) That, sir,
I take to be a very grave and a very serious matter, and
one which I should say is worthy of the consideration of the
ythpeos managementsession Wei
liquidators ; and that this is a fact there is no difficulty
in ascertaining by reference to the minutes of the bank,
t hs sir,
tehzetrnacetsxt
pointofwhicwhitlh bold in
to
nl
no minutes were kept in this bank till 1849 ; and I well'
remember the chairman, when he first took possession of
the chair, telling us—and it will be in the remembrance
of many now present—telling us that he undertook those.
duties with reluctance, but as he had been induced to
undertake those duties he would discharge them faith-
fully, and look after them as zealously as he would after
his own business. (Hear, hear.) I well remember, and
no doubt many others remember, that statement. It
remains to be seen how those duties have been attended
to. There is no minute-book till April, 1849, and then
the minutes entered are meagre end miserable in the
extreme. (Applause.) To show this, sir, for I should
be sorry to exaggerate in any way. I will give you
just a summary of the dates. The first minute in the
book was made by Mr. Cross, on 27th December,
1849 ; and that first entry has reference to an applica-
tion from a customer. In 1850 the minutes entered are
on the Bth, 10th, and 11th of January; and for 1850
there are no more. (Hear, hear.) In 1851 there is a
minute dated July 19th, and 24th of the same month ;
and then no more till 1854. In 1854 there are minutes
of 24th January, 11th, 26th, and 28th July, 2nd
September, 11th October, and 12th and 30th December.
In 1855, on the 4th and 10th January, Ist and 17th
March, and 17th and 28th December; and then after a
certain day in 1856, they met every day. Now, gentle-
men, comment on such a statement—" looking after our
interests as if they belonged to themselves"—I say is
altogether unnecessary. (Applause.) The next point
that I would call your attention to is that no security
book was kept till 1856 and 1857 ; and the date of this
is only guessed at from the water-mark on the
paper. The next point is that the deed of settle-
[ meet requires that three directors should sign
14 the aCc(iat6 and the statement, That was complied