The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-17 00:00:00

The Failure of Attwoods, Spooner, and Co,'
Bank,

BiRmINaHAM, ThUrsday.
A meeting of the creditors and customers of the firm of
Attwoods, Spooner, Marshalls, and Co., of Birmingham,
bankers, bankrupts, convened by the solicitors to the eti
tion, Messrs. Whateley and W. S. Allen, s held P
this
ifternoon in the Assembly-room at the Exchange There
e
was a very large and excited assembly, chiefly
ass belonging to the upper middle class of tradesme persons
n, manu-
facturers, and artisans, who are very large depositors, and
consequently sufferers by this extensive failure. The Mayor
(Mr. H. Wiggin) was called to the chair.
The Cumin!" in opening the proceedings, said although
he had but very little personal interest in the very painful
business which had brought them together, as it appeared
to be their wish, he had no hesitation in acceding to their
request to him to preside on that occasion. Had this failure
been an occurrence of an ordinary kind, affecting business
men merely, he (the Mayor) should have declined to be
present at that meeting ; but the event which had taken
place really amounted to a great public calamity. It was
a blow the ruinous extent of which could hardly be ex-
pressed, and it had fallen-upon the town and upon the
districts of Warwickshire and Worcestershire with unex-
ampled severity. All classes were sufferers by it, and the
misfortune had fallen upon a large number of that class of
persons who were not so well able to take care of their own
concerns as business men generally are. He had learnt
with very considerable regret that many of the indus-
trious classes who were members of benefit and friendly
societies would be considerable losers by the disaster. Under
these circumstance; therefore, he felt that with so much of
general public interest attaching to the affair he would have
been neglecting a public duty, as chief magistrate, were he
absent from that meeting. They had been called together
by the solicitors acting on behalf of Messrs. Attwoods,
Spooner, and Co., and they would, he understood, lay before
the meeting a full statement of the value of the liabilities of
the bank and the assets available to meet those liabilities;
and when that had been done ho should be glad to hear
from the creditors any suggestions as to the best mode of
dealing with the estate—that was, it would be for them to
decide whether it should go through the Bankruptcy Court
—(cries of no, no)—orbe wound up by private arrangement.
It was not for him (the mayor) to express an opinion, but
it was a matter entirely for their own consideration. , But
if he were to express an opinion, having had some experi-
ence of the working of bankruptcy cases, as a business man
he should say that he should prefer any reasonable mode of
arrangement to a winding up in the Bankruptcy Court.
(Vociferous applause.) Some of them, unfortunately,
knew that estates that looked very promising at the be-
ginning got very low in their passage through the Bank-
ruptcy Court, and, at all events, were a very long time
in being wound up. In this case it appeared to him
that everything would depend upon the realising of the
assets and dividing them among the creditors. (Cheers.)
He thought they would do well to come to a decision as
early as possible for realising the estate. It had been
rumoured, and most of those present had heard the rumour,
that offers had been made to take over the business of the
bank, and relieve the creditors of all further trouble in the
matter, by paying over sufficient to realise a fair dividend.
If that offer should be honestly made, and on a sufficiently
liberal scale, then he (the mayor) thought they would do
well to give it their best consideration. He threw out this
hint without the least desire to dictate to them, or endea-
vouring in any degree to influence their course of action.
In conclusion, as chief magistrate of Birmingham, he begged
to thank the public and private banks in the town for the
handsome and liberal manner in which they came forward
to give instant accommodation to the creditors of Attwoods
and Spooner's Bank.
Mr. WHATELEY, solicitor, after explaining that Mr. Mar-
shall, thevenerable and only surviving partner in the bank,
was utterly prostrate and unable to be present, said that
he was commissioned by that gentleman to express the
sympathy and great distress he felt at the calamity which
had fallen upon every creditor of the late bank. No one,
he (Mr. Whateley) was sure, felt the calamity more than
Mr. Marshall did. He would now state what were the cir-
cumstances which had brought about Mr. Marshall's con-
nection as a partner with the bank of Messrs. Attwoods
and Spooner. The addition of the two Messrs. Marshall to
the firm took place on the Ist January, 1854. That
arrangement was brought about in consequence of Mr. R.
Spooner having felt it his duty to remonstrate with his
partner, and to insist that Mr. George Attwood should put
the bank, as regarded his own account, in a better state.
That led to an investigation of the affairs of Mr. Attwood,
and the position in which he was placed. Mr. George
Attwood succeeded his father, Mr. Matthias Attwood, who
died in 1836. Matthias left George Attwood residuary
legatee and devisee of his estates ; the Attwood estates
were very extensive, and were always considered very
'valuable. George Attwood at that time was carrying on
several concerns of considerable extent. There were some
large colleries that he was working ; steel works at Bir-
mingham; tube manufactory at Baskerville ; besides a
large factory in France, at Rouen, where be used to manu-
facture rollers for sale. At that time Mr. Attwood was
feeding those concerns with considerable sums of money
from the bank, and Mr. Spooner at length found it neces-
sary to put a stop to it. Accordingly, it was arranged
that Mr. Attwood should make over his estates in part
liquidation of the debt due to the bank. This was only
partially done. Mr. Attwood's debt reached, at the end of
1853, the sum of £420,000. He could not pay the money,
and, as his health was declining, it was thought the
best arrangement that could be made was that the bank
should take the estates of Mr. Attwood at a valua-
tion, and that the amount should be applied in the reduc-
tion of the debt. The estates were taken by the bank at
the sum of £167,000, and that amount, as far as it went, was
applied in reduction of his debt to the bank. The estates
were all now in the possession of the bank, and would have
to be sold to realise the assets of the bank. After some fur-
ther explanations, Mr. Whateley said that there was a sum
of £5,000 now due from the estate of the late Thos. Aurelius
Attwood ; and that in March, 1853, the amount due from
the Attwood family, after giving credit for all that tho
estates of Mr. George Attwood realised, was £250,000.
Mr. LAUNDY7 the accountant, who had examined the
affairs of the bank, was then called upon, and gave the
following approximate statement of the position of the
bankrupt concern :—Liabilities—Due:on deposits, £718,973
19s. ; due to customers on current accounts, £271,136 ; but
there was to be deducted from that something like £50,000
of bills, which gentlemen had paid into the bank, on which
they drew no money, and which they might claim to have
returned to them ; so that the amount duo to customers on
current :accounts was £221,136 ; the notes in circulation
were £19,370, and there was due for clerks' salaries and
other amounts to be paid in full about £l,OOO. The whole
liabilities of the bank, therefore, were £960,479 19s. The
assets show—cash in hand, £24,123 12s. 2d. ; balance at Bar-
clay's, in the Bank of England, and due from the country
bankers, £52,264115. Bd.; bills of exchange in hand (less the
£50,000 mentioned as liable to be returned), £56,588 4s.

11d. ; the current accounts considered good, £234,825 ; cur-
rent accounts doubtful, estimated worth £46,069 11s. Id. ;
shares in public companies, £4,293 10s. ; freehold and
leasehold properties, £218,248; liable to debts and charges,
£18,000; reducing the amount to £200,028,
anynl as
desireenrg e
pthe
ot
total assets £618,412 9s. 3d., and leaving a deficiency of:
d.£3ow42n, £342,000. Mr.
near M ra.e Lhaeundy couldjudge,
added
and thesetw
theylead themwere. If
to
think
matters were wweanreteeid hthtereb:ottnegrh worsefigorures
theythan
amyilltiheant, aadnddi,
theymig might
htt ke ictali nuthheims way nbgy astriking
toofflia.cblilBi,toioeos
from the assets, they might call them £600,000, and that,
which was very near the mark, was about 12s. in the pound.
(Loud cheers.)
Considerable discussion ensued, in the course of which
there was a unanimous opinion expressed as to the desira-
bility of keeping the estate out of bankruptcy.
On the motion of the Mayor, seconded by the Rev. Dr.
Miller, it was resolved, " That in the opinion of this meet-
ing the affairs of the bank ought to bo taken out of the
opfosi theti on
assets; oft h
control of the Court of Bankruptcy, and to be wound up
under private arrangement."
The following gentlemen, representing every class of
creditors, were appointed a committee to investigate the
bankviz.:—Messrs.
z. withes s
rsa v. iew tot
Jeremiahh e speedyli attbe
ws,realisationlv . n .
Dixon, Alderman G. Turner, J. Gough, P. Bennett, J.
J. Re
Hughes, R. Allen, John Shakell, and the Rev. Dr.
Miller.

`The meeting, which was a noisy one, terminated with il,
vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding.

Bank of England Return,•-.Last Evening.

An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth Victoria,
cap. 32, for the week ending Wednesday, March 15, 1863.
MDR DEPARTMENT.

Notes issued !..—.Z28.710,275,

Government Debt £11.015,1( 0
Other Securities .. 3.634,900
(1 old Coin& Bullion 14, 9 ),.75
Silver tullion

£28,740,2731
BANKING D

£28,740,275

,oprietors' Capi.

EPARTMENT.
\ Government Secu-
rities (including
Dead WciglitAn-
- ,

tal X 14,55.3,000
Best
Public Deposits (in-
cluding Exche-
quer, Savings'
Banks, Commie-
missioners of Na-
tional Debt, and
Dividend

nuity) .C11,023,211
Other Securities 20,084,483
Notes
Gold and Silver 721,953
Cotn

counts) 8.348.43t
Other Deposits 13,7:5,825
Seven Day , and
other Bills 449,973

X 10,991.362
"V

9)4,r62
MILLER, Chief Cabhier.

ITarch 16, 1865.

PRINCE ALFRED.—His Royal Highness Prince
Alfred left Bonn yesterday for England. His Royal High-
ness is expected to embark at Ostend this morning, for
Dover, on his way to Windsor.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge
visited the Princess of Wales at Marlborough House yes-
terday.