The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-16 00:00:00

The Unity Bank.

Yesterday, at the Justice-room of the Mansion-house,
before the Lord Mayor, Joseih Wakefield Terry, of 3,
Abook-terrace, Wandsworth, and Thomas Burch, of 26,
Edmond-square, Kensington, were brought up on remand
charged that they, being respecrively manager and secretary
of the Unity Joint-stock Banking Association, did unlaw-
fully make, circulate and publish, and were concerned in
making, circulating and publishing an account and balance
sheet of the affairs of the said association to the 30th June,
1802, they then well knowing the same ti be false in ma-
terial particulars, with intent to thereby deceive and de-
fraud the members and shareholders,

Mr Lewis, jun., of the firm cf Lewis and Lewis, solicitors,
again conducted tho prosecution ; Mr Sleigh, barrister, de-
fended Terry, and Mr Mitcalfe, barrister, defended Burch.
Mr Kench was recalled, and said in reply to Mr Sleigh
that the resolution of the committee of liquidators to pro-

secuto the defeandants was passed three or four days before
they appeared in the dock. A special meeting Ras held on
Tuesday the Ist of November, at which witness moved and
Mr Goring seconded that resolution, to the effect that
Mr Lewis be instructed to prosecute, if possible to convic-

tion, the two defendants upon the charge of having pub-
lished a false and fraudulent balance-sheet. Mr Eyre was
then present—the same Mr Eyre, he supposed, who wrot3
the letter two years ago that the bank was all but insolvent.
The resolution was signed by Mr Robert Proctorjun. The
committee of liquidators commenced operation in the month
of February or March. Subsequently to that commence-
ment they had ➢Zr Terry bet ore them to render assistance,
He attended from time to time and rendered information,

In addition to that, Mr Howell corresponded with him on
the affairs of the bank ; and then, atter examining and cor-
responding with him, the committee of liquidators directed
that he should be prosecuted for this offence.
Mr Metcalfe said there was another part of the resolution
which it was rather important and curious to read —namely,
that Mr Lewis informed the committee of liquidators that
in the event of his not being able to obtain the conviction
of Terry and Burch he should make no charge for his pro-
fessional services. (Laughter.)
Mr Lewis observed that this part of the resolution had
been incorrectly copied, and asked whether the committee
of liquidators were not aware that they were answerable for
his charges.

The witness replied that they were, and that however
wrongly the resolution had been copied Mr Lewis must be-
paid. He added that at the time Terry gave information
and was corresponded with, the committee were not aware
of the facts respecting the falsification of the balance sheet
which had subsequently come to their knowledge. The
moment they had become aware of them a special meeting
was called upon the subject. Witness was solely actuated
by a desire to promote the public interests in appearing in
support of this prosecution.
Mr Howell was recalled, and his examination in chief

was continued as follows by Mr Lewis :—There was a

customer of the bank named Perl. He owed the bank
in June, 1862, in past bills £7.270 8s 4d, and on an over-
drawn account he owed £1,363 14s Id. Witness produced
181 dishonoured bills of Perl, including those debited to his

account. The £7,270 was the amount of those bills, which

appeared to have been dishonoured before June in 1861 and
1862. There was an entry of those bills in the general ledger
and past.due bill book also, The entry in the general
ledger was in Burch's handwriting, that in the past-due
book was in Terry's; Among those bills there was found a
paper containing a notice of assignment in the matter of
Jacob Perl in 1861, and yet these bills were put down as
good assets in 1862. The estate of Perl only paid about lld
in the pound. There was one bill among them for £135.
Mr Lewis here read the assignment, upon the face'of
which the bank professed its willingness in January, 1862,
to take 6s in the pound from Perl.
Witness continued—The document just read showed that
the bank knew Perl had failed. The whole amount carried
to the account of the bank in 1862 was £207,000. That in-
cluded the bills of a Mr Conitz. Witness produced the cash-
article book, which purported to show the checks which had
not been called up, and the state of the balance which on
the morning would be seen. He found there nearly the
_ _ .

whole of the bills of Perl entered as cash on the 28th of
June, 1862. There was a total of 1'16,000, and in that was
included between £6,000 and £7,000 from Perl. This entry
was in the handwriting of a clerk named Curtis. The bills
el entered had been dishonoured bills. They were taken from
the cash-article book and put into the past-due bill book on
the ZOth of June, and there was one of the Ist of July which
appeared in the cash-article book. Witness produced the
minute books, which contained an entry in Burch's band
writing to the effect that the cash book and past-due bills
had been examined by thed rectors. It stated that on the 30th
of June the correspondence, past-due bills, discounts, loans,
and cash-books were examined by the directors, and the
entry was signed by the chairman, Mr Alderman Mechi.
Mr Lewis said he should call the directors at a future
stage of the examinations to prove that this entry wee untrue.
Witness continued—The overdrawn account if £1,363

14s ld formed no portion of the Lilts discounted. The
mode in which it was entered affected the balance-sheet. By
deducting the overdrawn account from the amount owed to
customers it was made to appear as ;f the bank owed less
to customers than was really the case; There was due to
general customers on the 30th of Jane, 1862, £65,381. The
sum of £159,C00 was put down as due to customers, but that
was not correct, because there was £13,600 due beyond that.
The overdrawn balance of Berl alone reduced the true
amount due to customers by £1,363. That £1,363 ought to
have been added to £65,381, and not subtracted. The
bank had another customer named Gilbert Fraser. Ile was
indebted to the bank in Jane, 1862, £3,410 in bills, and