The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-19 00:00:00

Alleged Frauds by a Railway Contractor.

William Buckwell, a railway contractor and
manufacturer of artificial stone, of Phoenix-wharf,
East Greenwich, of 86, King William-street, city,
and of Casa Crola, Borgo'nanero, in Italy, was
placed at the bar of the Guildhall Police Court, be-
forA Alderman Humphery, for final examination
relative to a variety of charges.
Mr. Metcalfe, instructed by Mr. Dangerfield, of
the firm of Dangerfield and Fraser, conducted the
prosecution ; and Mr. Lewis was for the defence.
Messrs. Johnstone, Cooper, and Wintle were the
accountants to the estate.

The bankrupt was the contractor for the forma.•
tion of a line of railway from Novara to Lake Orta.
It was alleged that, although he had received the
greater part of the contract price of making the
line, the estimated evnense being £184,000, he had
not expended more t a £15,000 on the line. His
liabilities to English o. ..ditors amounted to £40,000,
and to Italian creditors to about £50,000. Neirly
the whole of his property had disappeared in a most
mysterious manner. Some time in December, 1861,
he removed all his books and papers to Italy, and
on the 14th of February, 1862, he was made a
bankrupt, and attended all the examinations up to
the 14th of May, when he absented himself. The
bankrupt during his trading had in his employ two
brothers. One, named Charles Collins, was his
agent in Italy, and still resided there; the other,
named Frank Collins, was his agent in England.
The following is the additional evidence adduced in
this case:—

Frank Collins recalled, said,—The bankrupt gave
my brother Charles 100 shares in the Novara and
Lake Orta Railway, and he desired by brother
William to have them issued in his name. The
bankrupt also gave my brother Williamsomeshares
in the same railway. Those he gave to Charles
were given in the spring of 1861, soon after the
formation 9f the company, in consideration of ser-
vices voluntatily rendered. I think it was 25
shares he gave my brother William. They were
all £lO shares, and all paid up. My brother William
also had at subsequent periods from the bankrupt
other shares in the same railway to the value of
about 1;1,400. Those also were for services volun-
tarily rendered to the bankrupt in connection with
the railway. I have also had some shares of the
bankrupt. After the first formation of the com-
pany I received from the bankrupt 100 £lO shares
for services rendered.

Mr. Metcalfe—For services rendered ? Why,
you have told us that you had £5OO a year, and
drew on the bankruptlwhen you liked.
Witness—Yes, sir; but I did not pay myself.
Some of the shares I have sold privately, but the
bulk of them are still in my possession, and stand
in my name. Those I parted with I sold for about
half their value. I also received about the same
time 25 £lO shares as one of the promoters of the
company. Mr. Cadogan, the bankrupt's financial
manager, had 100 £lO shares at the same time. I
believe ho holds shares to the value of 4,000 or
£5,000, all of which he has received from the bank-
rupt.
__ _

Mr. Metcalfe—Let me call your attention to one
of your own letters, in which it appears that " Ca-
dogan holds a large quantity of shares for a certain
purpose." What was that purpose?
Witness—lt was to give collateral security to
Masterman's bank, because Cadogan's account was
very much overdrawn. He holds them, but the
oompany refused to register them in his name.
Mr. Metcalfe—ln your brother Charles's letter of
the 18th of November the amount of shares is pro-
posed to be divided in the following manner:—
£1,500 to Masterman's bank, /1,500 to Cadogan,
and the rest to yourself. Have you acted on that
proposition ?
Witness—C, rtainly not. Cadogan still has those
shares. If I were to fix any number, I should say
there were 3,065 shares. My brother Charles held
other shares, which were registered in my brother
William's name, to the value of £3OO or £4OO,
and those shares were sent over to me a
few months ago for the purpose of buy-
ing up some of the bankrupt's debts. Those
shares are now in my brother William's possession.
I handed them over to him without attempting to
buy up the debts referred to in the letter of the
12th of November, 1862. The company carried on
their business at the bankrupt's offices at the time
the certificate of the completion of the line was pre-
sented by Cadogan. 1 believe a large quantity of
shares was obtained upon tee strength of that cer-
tificate. Cadogan was the principal medium of
communication between the bankrupt and the com-
pany. I remember seeing some deeds in Italian
about the end of 1861, and understood the effect of
them to be that of giving Mr. Norton and others
a lien on certain property under the bankrupt's
control.

Cross-examined—My brother told me the pur-
port of the deeds. He said it was to give certain
persons security against liabilities incurred with
them for goods supplied:to the bankrupt by them.
(hose persons wero Mr. Norton, Mr. Foreman, Mr.
Bower, and Mr. Hoeftman.
Arthur Perry, a messenger in bankruptcy, stated
that ho took possession of the binkrupt's premises
and books and papers in East Greenwich in Feb.,
1862.
Henry Ball, clerk to Messrs. Johnstone, Cooper,
and Wintle, the accountants, said he had looked
through the books and papers given up to the as-
signees, but found among them no important or
satisfactory statements relating to the bankrupt's
affairs in connection with the railway.
Mr. James Cooper, of the firm of Johnstone,
Cooper, and Wintle, the accountants to the estate,
said—l have seen a book given up by Mr. Cadogan,
purporting to be the account between him and the
bankrupt, and showing the amount paid and re-
ceived by him on account of the railway. We made
out the balance-sheet from documents supplied
by the bankrupt, but we have nothing that will
show the amount of proparty under the bank-
rupt's control and due to the estate. We
have no document that will give the assignees
any title to the land purchased by the bankrupt
in Italy. He offered to write for the books and
papers which NI ere in Italy. He has purchased
goods and plant for the railway to the amount of
many thousands, but I have no means of ascertain-
ing if he paid cash for anything except his own
statements and Cadogan's and ()Aline's accounts.
I have had no vouchers.
Mr, Lewis—We are in a position to prove that
upwards of £40,000 has been expended on the rail.
way.
Mr. Metcalfe—The creditors will be glad to hear
that, for there is £130,000 in debentures at present
unaccounted for.
Mr. Lewis.—Only debentures ; all paper.
Alderman Humphery—But the bankrupt got tl3e
money for them, or goods, which amounts to the
same thing. Cadogau's account is a very curious
one. Some of the entries are very extraordinary
indeed.

Mr. W. Foreman, an iron merchant, of Queen-
street, said—ln June and July, 1861, I had two
contracts with the bankrupt fos the delivery of a

quantity of iron rails. I advanced to bankrupt
£2,500 in cash in June, and delivered goods in
August, September, and October to the amount of
£9,900. We made more rails, which were not de-
livered, but we got bills for those that were delivered,
and while the others were awaiting shipment we
obtained bills for them, and received besides deben-
tures to the value of £16,000 as security for the pay-
ment of the bills and the cash advanced. The bills
were drawn at nine months frcm the date given. I
had no lien on the goods after they were once de-
livered, and never asked for any control over them,
but I have recently heard that the bankrupt has by
a certain deed given tie a lien on some goods abroad.
I have never received any money for the goods I
supplied.
James Packer, clerk to the secretary of Vie
Novra and Lake Orta Railway Company, said—
I produce, the board minute-book of the company
containing an entry of a resolution on the 10th of
September, 1861, to the effect that. on the produc-
tion of the usual certificate of the Government en-
gineer and another that works had been completed
on the line to the amount of £30,000, the bankrupt
should receive debentures to the amount of £lO,OOO.
The bankrupt was present at the meeting of that
date, and on the 14th of September the certificate
produced was presented, and the bankrupt received
the 10,000 worth of debentures. Those debentures
were issued on the faith of that certificate being
genuine.

Mr. Lewis—lt is a genuine certificate.
Mr. Metcalfe—Signed by his own clerk, instead
of the Uovernment engineer at Borgomanero.
Charles Cadogan said,—l was engaged as assis-
tant manager with Collins, and the financial de-
partment devolved upon me. I remitted from time
to time various sums of £5OO and £7OO to Italy for
the requirements of the railway. In all these sums
amounted to several thousand pounds. There were
no regular books kept—l mean commercial books.
The bankrupt told me that some of them went to
Italy, and some to Messrs. Johnstone, Cooper, and
Wintle, the accountants, about the timeof the bank-
ruptcy. I knew that a deed had been executed in
Italy for the purpose of giving certain creditors a
lien on goods in Italy to prevent the company from
taking possession of them. The bankrupt told me
he had executed such a deed, and I saw a transla-
tion of it at his solicitor's office. I received the:cer-
tificate from Italy, and the bankrupt afterwards told
me that Dalpapa and Fishers, the persons who had
signed it, were both in his employ, one an engineer,
and the other, the son of a subcontractor, had charge
of the goads. Mr. Sankey, who was advertised as
the company's engineer, never acted in that capa -
city. He was merely in the bankrupt's employ.
Cross-examined—l communicated the demand in
bankruptcy to the bankrupt as soon as he returned
from Italy. Prior to that I had remitted to the
amount of £16,000 for the purposes of the railway,
and I should think about £lO,OOO worth of iron
has been sent over in addition for the railway, and
about £3,000 or £4,000 in wood and sleepers, &e.
Mr. Preston, the bankrupt's solicitor, was then
called, but his evidence was merely of a corrobora-
tive character, and was objected to by Mr. Lewis
as the privileged communications between attorney
and client.

Mr. Metcalfe said that was the case for the pro-
secution. The charges upon which the bankrupt
will be indicted would be—For not surrendering on
the 14th of May, 1862 ; for not truly disclosing his
affairs and giving up his property; for not deliver-
ing up his books of accounts, &c. ; for unlawfully
encumbering his estate ; and for obtaining deben-
tures to the value of £9,000 of the Novara and Lake
Orta Railway Company under false and fraudulent
pretences.
Mr. Lewis addressed the magistrate upon the
whole of the evidence in support of the above
charges, urging, in the first instance, that the bank-
rupt, having attended all the fotmer examinations,
and being detained in Italy on the day appointed
for his surrender, thought it of little consequence,
particularly as the Commissioner, in the belief that
he would attend, had appointed another day for that
examination. With regard to the alleged conceal-
ment of property and the books, it should be re-
membered that the bankrupt's business was in Italy,
and the books and the property were required on
the railway he was engaged upon; consequently
there was nothing fraudulent in his taking his books
to Italy. In reference to the charge of obtaining
debentures by false pretences, he would merely ob-
serve that there was not a tittle of negative evi-
dence to prove that the certificate was not genuine,
and for that reason he objected to that charge going
upon the depositions.

Alderman Humphery said Mr. Lewie would have
the opportunity of urging those arguments in the
bankrupt's favour before a jury, as he intended to
commit the bankrupt for trial upon all the charges.
He was committed accordingly.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

10,

NORWICH-SATURDAY.

The supply of wheat at to•da.y's market was good, but
the condition was moderate. A full attendance of farmers.
Last week's rates were supported for most all descriptions.
There was a fair supply of barley, and prices fully as dear,
—in some few instances rather more money was given fur
malting sorts. In oats, beans, and peas little business
doing.

White wheat. 49s to:s2i 1 Red wheat 44s to 498
Malting barley ...37s to 38s 1 Chevalier barley 33:: to 350
Distilling d 0..... 30s to 33s 1 Oats.. 249 to 283
Flour, 34s 6d to —s Od per sack from the miller.