Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-28 00:00:00

certificates issued to represent it had not besni formally
sanctioned Iby the :requisite vote; that the Vies-Chan-
cellor has found it necessary to teen them that "it is too
late for any company, after taking subscribers' money
and issuing certificates, referring to an Act of Parlia-
ment to object that three-fourths of the meeting did not
assent, and that the stock was not issued under all
the provisions of the Act," that the committee of
investigation announce that the :directors allowed
Redpath to pursue his career without the slightest check
or supervision ; that the secretary signed the dividend
warrants in bundles, without a list, or certificate, or
examination of any kind; that the stamp which repre-
sented the signature of the secretary was used by any of
the clerks in the registration office at pleaiure, and that
even down to the latest period of the investigation many
items have been found placed toTcapital account, which,
in the opinion of the committee, should have been charged
to revenue—this demand on the part of the direetors and
secretary, not merely for a continuance of unli,nited con-
fidence, but virtually for an approval of all their past
acts, is, perhaps, without a parallel. As respects the
next case—namely, that of the London and Eastern
Banking Corporation—the new revelation is just such as
might have been expected. The shareholders, after
having lost all their paid-up capital of £5O per share,
are called upon for a further contribution of £ls, with an
intimation that the assets to meet outstanding liabilities
threaten to yield much less than had been anticipated,
and that consequently the extent of ruin cannot even yet
be estimated. They are warned, msreover, that unless
they pay promptly the concern will have to go into
bankruptcy, where there prospects will be still worse.
Meanwhile Colonel Wangle and all, the workers of this
misery can laugh in security, the liquidation being private
and their victims happy to let them escape if by so doing
they can avoid the tender mercies of the Law Courts,
professedly established to afford them aid. As to the
Surrey Gardens company, the facts appear to be such as
must sooner or later lead to soma criminal procedure.
The capital, subscribed only fifteen months ago, was
432,560, the whole of which has been lost, while
additional debts have been contracted for £26,000, of
which £14,500 is upon a mortgage of the music-hall,
£11,500 being wholly unsecured. Yet a dividend at the
rate of 10 per cent was declared last Oeober, the object
apparently being to induce the public to take up at par
744 shares which still remain unissued. The way in
which the money has been appropriated seems a complete
mystery. Mrs. Seacole is stated not to have received
a farthing of the proceeds of the recent manifestation of
public sympathy in her behalf, and M. Jullien asserts that
he has been cheated, and is a ruined man. Meanwhile it
is complained that Mr. James Coppock, of Cleveland-
row, St. James's, who is represented to have been the
acting Director, makes no sign ; and here, again, the first
impulse of all concerned seems to be to keep the matter
out of the courts:and to accept any sacrifices, provided
they can but be allowed to have the winding-up in their
own hands. The claim of Mrs. Seacole, however, is of a
character not to be postponed, and, as some persons were
to wait upon Lerd Palmerston upon the subject yesterday,
it may be hoped that decisive measures will at once be
employed. Finally, while all these affairs have been
going on, we have had accounts of a gigantic defalcation
on the Liverpool Stock-Exchange, followed by a mercantile
forgery and disappearance, and several failures,
have been • ;rendered more pad :ful as illustrations
of the state of commercial morality by an ap.
parent combination for the' purpose of hushing them
up, so as to prevent any reproach from falling upon
the speculative classes. Under such circumstances, the
question arises how can the business of the country be
carried on ? In :the largest as well as in the smallest
undertakings unscrupulous mismanagement seems waiver-
sal.7,There is, '.however, no occasion for despondency.
The mercantile' community of Great Britain are still
sound at the core, and, looking at the immensity of our
transactions and at the number of people who in this age
of talk are ready to trust the control of their affairs to
any pretenders who have the tact either to overbear or
impose upon public meetings, the number of bad cases
that transpire is not comparatively so large as in their
notoriety they appear. While the journals are teeming
with accounts of disputes and exposures among Directors
and shareholders, the latter in many instances haring
only to complain of their own ignorance or indolence, the
groat daily transactions, involving millions, upon which
depend the fame and prosperity of the country are
honourably conducted at all points by men who have
never been heard of 'either as wonderful projectors
or extraordinary financiers, but who, in the quiet and
successful pursuit of fortune, contrive, each in his
sphere, to uphold the reputation for integrity that has
made the country what it is. The popular feeling is not
altered, and much of the evil lately witnessed has arisen
from a defective state of the.law. This has been remedied
in a great measure by the Act upon the subject passed
during the present session, which, it is hoped, will sweep
from the field all who have hitherto followed the trade of
Director relying upon perfect immunity who never it might
suit them either to neglect or to abuse their trust-

NEW Acs o.r 1317SIM&RY PROCEEDINGS BEFORE MAXUS-
TRATES.—A very useful Act of Parliament has just received
the Royal assent, and if generally adopted will save the
trouble and expense of appeals to Quarter Sessions. It is
entitled, "An act to improve the administration of the
law so far as respects summary proceedings before Justices
of the Peace." The object of the statute is to obtain the
opinion of a superior court on questions of law which may
arise in the exercise of summary jurisdiction by justices of
the peace. Either party feeling aggrieved with a decision
may apply to the magistrate or magistrates who heard the
case to state a cage for the opinion of a superior court. Se-
curity is to be given by the appellant. Oa a magistrate
refusing to state a case, the Court of Queen's Beach may
compel him to do so. The superior court is to decide the
question raised, and a judge at Ch timbers may exercise the
power. The decision is to be final, and the justices may
issue their warrant to enforce their decision, when the
same is to be carried out. No certiorari is revired, and
the superior courts may make rules to carry out the act;
which act has reference to all jestivs, including the
'Metropolitan police courts and stipendiary magistrates
The appellants under this act are not allowed to appeal to
Quarter Sessions The fees to be eiarged under the act
are n-t lair; the whole will not exceed 235., with the
exception of profession II aasistance, which are, of course,
much leas than an appeal to Q tarter Sessions.