The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-28 00:00:00

NATIONAL BANK OF IRELAND.

The fifth annual General Meeting of the Directors
and Proprietors of the National Bank of Ireland took
place yesterday at the Company's offices, Old Broad_
street.

The Directors present were the Honourable Colonel
Leicester Stanhope, T. Lamle Murray, E. F. Green,
John Rawson, Rowand Ronald, Thomas Vine, Georg
Moffatt, and J. R. Elmore, Esqrs.
The Meeting was attended by a large number of
Shareholders, many of whom were from different parts
of Ireland, and amongst them we observed Sir Benjamin
Morris,,C. F. Middleton, Esq., Colonel Nichol!, H. M.
Jones, Esq., Captain Scallan, Robert Lowe, Esq.,
Charles Bianconi, Esq., Thomas Fox, Esq., Charles
Rule, Esq., John Robins, Esq., William King, Esq.,
- Wheeler, Esq., Rev. Doctor Magee, Rev. Thomas
Madge, John Reynolds, Esq., &c., &c.

At one o'clock, the chair was taken by DANIEL
O'CONNELL, Esq., M.P., Governor.

The CHAIRMAN said the Directors met the Proprie-
tors on the present occasion with very great pleasure.
He felt that the statement which he had to make,
and the report which would be laid before them, were
calculated to give considerable satisfaction.—(Hear,
hear.) The first topic to which he should call their
attention was the advantage which the Company had
derived from the consolidation of Shares. The original
plan upon which the Bank had been established was,
the creation in each locality of a separate and indepen-
dent interest. The head office in London was partner
with each and all of the Branches. Each was a separate
concern as between themselves, and a particular partner-
ship as regarded this Society. The complication of such
a system was certainly, upon the face of it, a disadvan-
tage. It was difficult to effect the proper working of a
system, when they had very frequently to contend
against contradictory interests, and a feeling of rivalry
and jealousy between the different branches. The local
branches, under that system, were all in some measure
opposed to each other ; because it was the interest of
each to collect and send in the notes of the others,
thereby limiting their circulation and increasing their
own profits. It might be asked why, with such strong
objections to the plan upon the face of it, such a system
was adopted. He would tell them in three words—it
was because, from the failure of many banks in Ireland,
an impression was created in the minds of Shareholders
that it would be injurious and hazardous in them to
become responsible for the issues of the entire body,
and that although the local branches might be
managed with the greatest prudence and care,
they might become responsible for the losses which
were occasioned by bad management. and misconduct
on the part of other branches. That feeling prevailed
to a great extent in Ireland, and it would have still con-
tinued, had it not been for that fortunate run, as he
might term it, upon another establishment, which corn•
municated itself to their bank, and produced a demand
upon them. The other establishment was compelled to
suspend its payments, but notwithstanding that, such was
the efficacy of the Joint Stock principle upon which it
had been established, that (what was unknown in Ire-
land before that period) it paid off every shilling of its
liabilities to the public, and paid them off without
making any demand upon the shareholder 3 further than
what they had already subscribed.—(Hear, hear.) That
gave a confidence to the public in the Joint Stock
principle, and he believed that confidence had
been induced to such an extent, that he did not
imagine such a panic would take place in Ireland again.
It also gave a security to the shareholders of such
Banks, that even in the event of a suspension of pay.
ments, they would not be called upon to sacrifice their
property, but that the funds of Banks when established
on the Joint-stock principle, would be sufficient to meet
all demands without further individual loss. He had just
been told that he had been premature in addressing
them, and that it was usual in the first instance to have
the advertisement convening the meeting read.

The advertisement having been read by the Secretary,
The CHAIRMAN said the next step w•as to have the

Report read.

The Secretary then read the Report as follows :
REPORT

Of the Directors of the National Bank of Ireland made
to the Proprietors at the Fifth Annual General Meet-
ing held at the Office of the Company, No. 13, Old
Broad-street, London, on Wednesday, the 27th of
May, 1840.

The pleasure with which the Directors meet the Pro-
prietors assembled at this, their Fifth Annual General
Meeting, is much increased by their being enabled to state
that the experience of another year has fully confirmed
the favourable opinion so confidently expressed by them
on former occasions respecting the progress and pros-
pects of the Company.
When it is taken into consideration that the National
Bank of Ireland has only been in existence five years,
and that thirty-soven branches and four agencies are at
present in active and healthy operation in some of the
most important towns in Ireland, it must prove highly
satisfactory to the Proprietors to find, by the statements
to be produced to the meeting, that the affairs of the
Society are not only most prosperous, but that a business
of considerable value and magnitude has been acquired
in so slier.. a period, notwithstanding the powerful com-
petition, the unsettled state of the monetary world, and
the numerous other difficulties that the Bank has had to
contend against since its formation.

At the commencement of every extensive Bank, and
more particularly when numerous Branches have to be
established, a considerable outlay is unavoidable, and
some time must necessarily elapse before a return of
profit can be expected fully proportionate to the means
of the respective districts in which their operations arc
conducted.

The introduction of a liberal system of Banking into
Ireland, has not only tended to develope the natural
resources of the country, but the important and favour-

able effects it has produced, are most apparent in those
towns which have derived the advantages arising from
the judicious and legitimate facilities thereby afforded
to all classes deserving of credit ; and whilst the pro-
gressive increase in the business and deposits of the
Banks may be viewed as a certain indication of pro-
sperity, and the growing wealth of the people, it affords
to the Directors a most gratifying proof of the great
confidence reposed by the public in the National Bank
of Ireland.

The Directors have now to solicit the attention -of
;he Proprietors to the following statement

Undivided profits at 31st Dec., 1838... ...... .£5,702 9 6
Net profits for the year ending Dec. 1839... 27,336 7 8

£33,038 17 2
Deduct half year's divi.l end to the Pro-
prietors for Midsummer,lB3B...XB.7so 0 0
Ditto, ditto, for Christmas, 1838...8,750 0 0

17,500 0 0

Leaving amount of undivided profits at Dec.
1839
The net profits of the year 1838 only amounted to
22,796/. I Is. 6d., whereas by the foregoing statement,
after defraying all the current expenses, paying the
proportion of preliminary charges, and making an ample
allowance for bad and doubtful debts, the net profits of
1839 amount to 27,3361. 7s. Bd., being 20 per cent
more than those of the previous year, and after the pay-.
merit of the dividend of 5 per cent. on the paid-up
capital of the Company, there remains a surplus from
the profits of the past year of 9,836/. 7s. 8d , which,
added to the undivided profits at December, 1838,
ekes a total amount of 15,5381. 17s. 2d. as the Share-
holders Reserve Fund, and from the very satisfactory
progress of the business of the Bank, the Directors
confidently anticipate that this fund will henceforward
be found gradually and permanently to increase.
In conformity to the provisions contained in the Deed
of Settlement, the preliminary expenses incurred in
the formation of the Society, were thrown over a period
of five years, and a proportionate amount of the profits
of each year have consequently been applied to their
liquidation. It was intimated in the last Annual Re-
port that the residue would be cleared off at December,
1839, and the Directors have now much pleasure in
stating that the entire of these expenses, as regards the
Metropolitan Society, have been discharged, and that,
in their opinion, the time has arrived when an addition
may, with prudence and safety, be made to the Pro-
prietors in the rate of dividend. The Directors,
therefore, beg to announce their intention of increasing
the same to 6 per cent. per annum, and a Dividend
will accordingly be paid after that rate at the usual
period in July next, for the half-year ending Mid-
summer.
There are now to be elected four Directors in the
room of Colonel the lion. Leicester Stanhope, J.
R. Elmore, John Rawson, and Christopher Fitz-
simon, Esqs., who retire by rotation, all of whom are
candidates for the office, and eligible to be re-elected.
The Report was received with loud cheers by the
meeting.
Sir BENJAMIN MORRIS had much pleasure in mov-
ing that the very satisfactory tied gratifying Report
which had just been read by the Secretary, be adopted,
printed, and circulated among the Proprietors.
The motion was seconded by ROBERT LOWE, Esq.,
and carried unanimously.
CHARLES BIANCONI, Esq. then moved that Colonel
the Hon. Leicester Stanhope, J. R. Elmore, John
Rawson, and Christopher Fitzsimon, Esquires, the four
Directors who go out of office by rotation, be re-elected.
Tho motion was seconded by WILLIAM WHEELER,
Esq., and unanimously agreed to.
Mr. O'CONNELL said he should now proceed with
the observatioas in which he had been very properly in-
terrupted, and he presumed they would give him credit
for the instalment of his speech which ho had already
delivered.--(A laugh.) He would conclude his re-
marks upon the topic to which he had already adverted,
by saying that as upon the one hand any timidity that
existed among the public at large with respect to Joint
Stock Banks, had vanished, so on the other hand, the 111
timidity that persons had formerly felt to becoming
shareholders, and thereby liable to the responsibility of
the operations of the entire concern, had totally
ceased ; and with two exceptions, Carrick and Clon-
mel, their centralization was complete, and without
any diminution of the number of their Shareholders,
the number at present exceeding I,loo.—(Hear.)
They had lost nothing in the number of persons in Ire-
land who were interested in the concern, and they had
gained the advantage of a system of centralization by
which, the head Office being placed in London, and
free from all local prejudices and rival interests, would
be enabled to exercise a salutary control over the entire,
It had also been found to diminish the expenses consider-
' ably, and he trusted that the success which had attended
the arrangement would convince their friends at Clonmel
and Carrick-on-Suir that they should have combined
with them in the improved system.—(Hear, hear.)
However that might be, it had succeeded completely.
The next point he would allude to was the diminution
of the charge in future, under the head of Preliminary
Expenses. These expenses had been spread over a
period of five years, and so far as the metropolitan office
was concerned, they had all been paid off; and the
Shareholders would never hear of them again in the
shape of a charge against their profits. The prelimi-
nary charges at some of the local banks sere in course
of liquidation, and would be cleared off in another year,
thereby insuring a considerable raving on that head.
There was another point to which he wished to allude—
it had been industriously circulated in some quarters in
Ireland that they were heavily indebted to their legal
men, but he had the pleasure to inform the meeting
that they did not owe them a shilling. All law costs
were paid off half-yearly. It was also rumoured in
Dublin that they were indebted to the amount of
2,0001. for law expenses. Now he was glad that such
a report had spread abroad, because it enabled
him to state to them the fact, that for three years
their law expenses in Dublin did not amount to—and
there was not a gentleman listening to him who could
guess how little—they did not amount for the last three
years to more than 201. or 21/.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. BIANCONI had never heard a report that they
had lost 2,000/. in law expenses.
Mr. O'CONNELL did not say that Mr. Bianconi
would come over with such a report. He believed,
however, that few instances would be found of such
economical and prudent management as that ; where
the law expenses of a Branch doing so large an
amount of business as that of Dublin, had not amounted
in the course of three years to more than 21/.
(Hear.) There was another topic which he thought
would be deemed consolatory, inasmuch as it tended to
prove the increased and increasing confidence of all
clasys in Ireland in the stability and mode of doing
business in their establishment, and it was this
there were forty-six Poor-law Unions in Ire-
land, which had received grants of Excite
quer Bills to enable them to commence opera-
tions. He did not suppose that there could be more
than fifty-six. Now any body who knew anything or
Ireland must be aware that the Poor-law Guardians
were composed, first, of the Magistracy, and, secondly,
of the elected Guardians. The Magistracy wore
among the most wealthy and influential in their several
localities, although certainly not more wealthy than
many of the elected Guardians, who represented the in-
terests of the middle classes of society. Among these
parties he might safely say that the Magistrates gene-
rally were not inclined to attach any great merit to any
body with which he (Mr. O'Connell) was connected ;
and it was not, therefore, political feeling that would
induce them to give the National Bank any advantage.
He thought on these grounds they would be glad to hear
that out of 46 Unions to whom loans had been given, 37
had elected the National Bank as Treasurers.—
(Cheers.) It appeared to him certainly that no more
satisfactory proof could he given of the degree of public
confidence which their establishment had already se-
cured in Ireland.—(Hear, hear.) He now cane to
another point which had been already so well stated in
the Report, namely, the increase that had taken place
in their net profits. The net profit of the year 1838
was 22,796/., while the net profits of the year 1839,
after making ample allowance for every contingency of
bad debts, &c., was 27,336/., being an increase of 20
per cent. upon the former year.--(Hear, and cheers.)
Now that could be easily accounted for. In fact their
Bank could not be said to be more than three years in
operation, because the first two years before the
consolidation had been years of experiment, and to
a certain extent they had been obliged to grope
their way in the dark. Temptations to do busi-
ness had been held out to them by men whose solvency
was doubted by the banks which had been in existence
prior to them. It was always the fate of the new banks
to have persons of that description coming in upon them,
after they had worn out their credit elsewhere. The

EVENINGS D T

had now got over that, they had gained practical know-
ledge and experience, they knew the parties who were
fit to be trusted, the eye of their Managers was upon
them ; and they could distinguish the man who was
doing a fair, just, and natural business as easily as they
could detect those who were speculating upon a ficti-
tious capital. They were always ready to promote the
views of the real genuine man of business, who, when he
sent in paper to the Bank, sent what was the represen-
tative of real property ; they enabled such men to call
the energies and industry of the people into activity ;
the labourer was employed, and their notes were called
into circulation. The consequence had been, that their
profits had increased. They would bear in mind that these
were net-profits, and he was quite certain that the Direc-

tors had not been too low in their estimate of bad debts
because they had had the experience of former years,
and on these occasions they bad been estimated higher
than they eventually proved to be. They had therefore
just ground for supposing that they would err on the
safe side in the present year as they had done in former
ye/as. From the nature of the business they were now
doing, he thought he might venture to assert, and such
indeed was the unanimous opinion of the Directors, that
their business and their profits were gradually, steadily,
and healthfully increasing.—(Hear, hear.) No man
could venture to prophecy what the future might bring
forth, but taking the natural consequences, and the na-
tural deductions that might be drawn from their present
position, the Directors felt themselves quite warranted
in saying that there was every rational prospect of that
increase continuing. The next point was the increase in
the rate of the dividend which bad been alluded to in the
Report. They did not think it necessary to make any
allusion to that matter in their former meeting, al-

though they were at the time thoroughly convinced
that their profits would go on increasing. They had

thought it unnecessary on that occasion to hold out the
promise of an increased dividend, their object not being
to create a speculation in Shares. They were, however,
now bound to state their opinion that that rate would
be permanent, and that below it they would not go.--*
(Hear, hear.) There was also another very gratifying
increase, and that was the increase in the rest. Now,
the rest, or surplus, laid by in the year 1837 was, for
reasons which he had touched upon in the preceding
part of his observations, only 4031. In 1838, it vioi
5,7021.. and in 1839 it amounted to 15,538..—(Hear,
hear.) Thus, while they bad consolidated their shares,
and centralized their system of operations by bringing
them more immediately and distinctly within the vier(
of the Management in London, they had obtained to
a great extent the confidence of the public, 09
was exemplified in what he had stated with respect to
the Poor-law Unions : they had increased their profits,
they had increased their dividend, they had increased
their rest very considerably, and he thought be could not
well address the Shareholders of any undertaking under
more satisfactory or gratifying circumstances. There
was nothing imaginative in this statement—it was all
founded upon the irresistible evidence of vulgar arith-
metic, which no one could dispute ; for once the pre-
mises were correctly described in figures, the conclu•
sions were inevitable. On these inevitable conclusions
he had submitted to them the statement of their alai"'
If any gentleman wished for any explanation of these
or any other topics, the Directors and himself were pre-
pared to afford them every possible information.--•
(Much cheering.)
A PROPRI ETOR said the Chairman had spoken of the
nett profits of the last year, and be wished to know
whether they included the sum which had been applied
to pay off preliminary expenses?
Mr. O'CONNELL said that sum had been deducted
as a matter of course, and he was glad to say that the
charge for preliminary expenses in connexion with the
London office was entirely extinguished. In some 0f
the localities in Ireland the preliminary expenses bad
been also paid off, and the sum now remaining unliqui"
dated was of small amount. . _

The PROPRIETOR inquired how that balaneo was t°
be paid off?
Mr. MURRAY said it would bo spread over the nelt
year and a-half.

The PROPRIETOR-May I ask if the deposits have,
increased during the past year ?

Mr. O'CONNELL—They have increased very consi-
derably, and that increase has been steady and gradual.
Mr. WHEELER believed there was no other busineS'
before the meeting, and he should, therefore, move the
cordial thanks of the meeting to their very able a°
distinguished Governor for his candid and lucid expla-
nations of the affairs of the Bank, and for his courteous
conduct in the Chair.

The motion was seconded by Mr. ROBINS, and car-
ried with loud cheers.
The CHAIRMAN returned thanks. He was WWI
ingly indebted to them for their kindness, and he could
assure them that he felt a deep interest in the success of
the undertaking, because he could distinctly state, from
his own knowledge, that it had done great good io Ire-
land. There was not a single locality in which theY
had a branch, that was not manifestly improving in its
population, in the amount of its business, in the maw
ber of houses that were building, and all the other une-
quivocal symptoms of prosperity.—(Hear.) He had
much pleasure in stating that fact, and he begged to
thank them for the mark of their confidence they had
just honoured him with.
Mr. BIANCONI said, in connexion with the subject
which had just been alluded to by Mr. O'Connell, 13°
could state that he knew a very large number of agri-
cultural families who were about to expatriate then'-
selves, but who were now most respectable members 01
society, and many of them in comfortable circumstaneegi
and who owed it all to the means prudently given t°
them by the National Bank.—( Hear.)
A PROPRIETOR said they would be very much svilot-
ing to themselves if, while paying proper respect t°
their illustrious Governor, they had neglected their 1158"
ful and zealous Directors. He considered they were
indebted to them in a great measure for their present
prosperous position, and he had therefore much pleasure
in moving a vote of thanks to them.
The resolution was seconded by CHARLES F. Ally'
DLETON, Esq., and carried unanimously.
The meeting then separated, much gratified with the
proceedings of the day.