The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-25 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL BANK OF IRELAND

The- sixteenth
.yearly general meeting of the Proprie-
tors of this establiShment was held at its office, in Broad-
street, on Thursday, the 20th instant.
• -.Sir 40BERT.C.A.MPBELL, Bart., took the Chair.
• , . The SECRETARTAheIv, read the advertisement
.callieg
the meeting. • : . -•
The CHAIRMAN stated it was the duty of the meeting
to elect four Direetors, in the place of thole going out by
rotation. '.fhe gentlemen going out were, by the provi-
sions of deed of settlement, immediately re-eligible,
and their names had been accordingly put up within the
public office of the Bank for twenty-eight days, as the
deed required. No other candidates having been pro-
po.icd, he should now take the sense of the meeting on
the question that Henry Alexander, Esq., Matthias
Attwood, Esq., M.P., Sir Moses Montefiore,F.R.S., and
James Holme, Esq., be re-elected Directors of the Pro-
vincial Bank of Ireland.
It was carried unanimously in the affirmative.
The CHAIRMAN then stated that the Directors had
prepared a report of the affairs of the bank for the past
year, which would be read by the Secretary, and to
which he requested their attention.
The Secretary then read the following report
" REPORT. . .
" In the report made to the • Proprietors at the last
yearly general meeting, tne Directors took occasion to
refer to certain causes which had for some time pre-
viously been operating. Among those causes were the
two preceding bad harvests of 1838 and 1839, the latter
of which had been in an extraordinary degree unpro-
ductive. Both years had been marked by improvident
speculations in foreign corn, attended with their usual
disastrous effects. The linen trade continued to be de-
pressed, and the commercial and monetary relations of
the empire, both at home and abroad, were in a state of
great fluctuation and derangement. Similar causes -con-
tinued to operate through* 1840, nor have their effects
ceased in what has yo pAsed of the year 1841 ; for,
although the season of 1840 was not, in the same sense,
as its immediate predecessor, an adverse one, inasmuch
as the oat crop was both good in quality and equal in
quantity to that of an average year, the crop of wheat
was palpably insufficient for the wants of the country,
occasioned partly by the small quantity sown of
that description of grain, owing to the • dis-
couraging results of the two preceding years, and
partly by the very scanty produce reaped from the land
which had been prepared for it. The consequence was
that for the third year in immediate succession, Ireland,
instead of being, as in ordinary years, an exporter of
about 1,000,000 quarters of wheat, had to import of that
grain very largely, under all the disadvantages of a seri-
ous diminution of her resources resulting from the cir-
cumstances above enumerated. Nor must the effects pro-
duced upon certain classes of traders, by the increasing
progress of the temperance movement, be overlooked.'
For, however efficient the principle of it may be to im-
prove the condition of the people, that improvement
must necessarily be a work of time. The moral effects
of temperance are undoubtedly instantaneous, but it is
evident that a longer or shorter period must elapse ere
the void in the internal traffic of the country produced by
the disuse of spirituous and fermented liquors can be
filled up by increased expenditure upon objects better
calculated to afford to the inferior classes of the popula-
tiod comforts of a more substantial and durable nature.
In the mean time its prevalence has been so extensive
and sudden as nearly to annihilate the business of nume-
rous distillers and brewers (not to mention publicans),
whose transactions have hitherto been considered as bear-
ing influentially on the interests of agriculture.
" Under such a state of things it was felt by the Di-
rectors to be their duty to proceed with the utmost cau-
tion, and to confine the business within the most mode-
rate limits that the circumstances of the times, and a due
regard to the customers of the Bank, would admit and
notwithstanding all the discouragements that have been
referred to, they have the satisfaction of announcing to
the Proprietors that they have not only been able to
maintain the usual rate of dividend at eight per cent.
per annum, but have also made an addition of between
4,0001. and 5,0001. to the amount of the rest—(Hear,
hear}—or undivided profits of the 27th March last.
" Applications for the establishment of new branches
continue to be received from various quarters of the
country ; but the Directors do not consider it expedient
to add to the number of branches at present. It may be
mentioned, however, that at Enniscorthy, where the
Bank has for a number of years transacted business by
weekly visits of the Manager from the Wexford Branch,
a regular branch bank is about being established, and
will shortly commence its operations.
" Before requesting the attention of the Proprietors to
the statement of accounts, which is now to be submitted to
the meeting, the Directors consider it proper to advert to
the failure of the house of Messrs. Wright and Co., one
of the London bankers of this establishment since. its
commencement. To that house was assigned the busi-
ness of a small number of the branch banks in so far as
drawing on London was concerned, and it was of course
necessary to keep in their hands a balance adequate
to the amount of such drafts. When the house stopped
payment the balance due to this bank was 5,143/.
ss. 9d. ; one dividend of ss. per pound has already
been declared thereon, and another of similar amount
is expected.—(Hear, hear.) The meeting will now be
pleased to attend to the following statement. By the
account submitted to the last yearly general meeting of Pro-
prietors, the amount of the rest, or undivided profits,. on
• 23th March, 1840, was £101,178 6 8
From this sum there has been
deducted the amount of two

dividends, since paid—viz., at
at Midsummer, 1840, 4 per
cent £21,600

At Christmas, 1840, 4 per cent. 21,600

43,200 0 0

Leaving the sum of 57,978 6 8
TO which are to be added the amount of
tin net profits for the year ending
tho 27th, being the last Saturday of
March, 1841, after deducting all ex-
pen ies, and providing for all bad and
doubtful debts.. 47,513 10 11

Remains amount of the rest or undi-
vided profits 27th March, 1841. £105,491 17 7
" On this statement the Directors intend to pay to the
Proprietors, in July next, the usual dividend of 4 per
cent. on the capital stock for the half-year ending at Mid-
summer, being at the rate of 8 per cent. per annum, or 4/.
upon each 100/. share, and Bs. upon each share of 10/."
It was then moved and seconded that " The Report
which has now been read he received, and printed fur
the use of the Proprietors." -
Captain PORTER suggested that it would be of great
advantage it in future the report were printed and made
accessible to the Proprietors a few hours previously to
the general meeting.
A discussion at some length now followed, when Cap-
tain Porter declining to move a resolution to that effect,
it was moved, seconded, and unanimously resolved,
" That the concerns of this Company be conducted in the
same way as usual as regards the report." The original
motion was then unanimously agreed to.
The thanks of the meeting were then moved to the
Directors, for their continued attention to the concerns
of the Bank ; and to the Chairman, for his conduct
that day.
The CHAIRMAN returned thanks for himself and his
brother Directors.
A vote of thanks way, then given to the Local Direc-
tors and Managers of the branches in Ireland, for their
valuable services.
In conclusion, the thanks of the meeting were given
to Mr. Marshall, the secretary, to Mr. Murray, the anent
of the Bank in Dublin, and to the other principal officers
of the establishment, for their exertions in the service.
Mr. MAnsnALL and Mr. MURRAY briefly returned
thanks, and the meeting separated.