The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-20 00:00:00

LONDON AND WESTMINSTER

BANK.

The half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of this
' company was held at the Bank premises, Lothbury,
yesterday, David Salomons, Esq., Alderman, in the
chair. The attendance of shareholders on the occa-
sion was good. The notice summoning the meeting
having been read, the following report was submit-
ted to the proprietors :
" In consequence of the resolution passed at the last
general meeting of proprietors, recommending that
there should be a hag:-yearly meeting of the company,
and that the general meeting now held in March should
take place at an earlier period of the year, :the direc-
tors have called this special meeting for the purpose of
making a half-yearly report, and for the additional pur-
pwe of altering the deed of settlement, so that,the annual
meeting of the proprietors shall, in future, be held on
the third Wednesday in January. The directors have
accordingly to report that, after defraying the total ex-
pense of management, making allowance for all bad
and doubtful debts, and paying the income-tax, the
nett profits of the half-year amount to 24,8381. 164.
11d., which added to 100,647!. 16s. 11d., the
balance of unappropriated profits at the commencement
of the year, make a total of 125,486/. 13;. 10d. Out of this
sum, the directors now declare a dividend at the rate
of 6 per cant. per annum, upon the paid-up capital of
one million. After the payment of this dividend,
amounting to :30,000/., there will remain a balance of
unappropriated profit of 93,486/. 13s. 10d. The dividend
now declared will be payable on Monday next, the
24th instant, instead or as heretofore on the 10111 of
September, and in future the half-yearly dividends will
be payable in January and July. The directors now
beg to call the attention of the proprietors to the
alteration of the time for holding the annual
meeting. The legal adviser of the bank has prepared
fur consideration a resolution making such an alterti-
Oen in the deed of settlement as will enable the an-
nual general meeting of proprietors to be held on the
third Wednesday in January, instead of the first Wed-
nesday in March. As it will be necessary that this re-
solution, if passed, be confirmed at another meeting of
the proprietors, the directors will duly convene such
,neeting on Wednesday, the 16th of August neat.- The
result of this resolution will be that the annual general
meeting of the bank will in future be held under the
deed on the third Wednesday in January, and a half-
yearly meeting may be called specially by the directors
either on the third Wednesday in July, or on any other
whenever it shall be deemed necessary or expe-
dient. The directors have the satisfaction of ctosing this
report by stating that the business of the bank has con-
tinued to increase, and they doubt not that when a re-
vival shall take place in the commerce of the country,
the company will reap the benefit of its large capital and
extended connexions."

The following was the statement of the accounts
made up to the 30th of June last:—

Dr:
To proprietors for paid-up capital £998,179 0 0
To amount due by bank for deposits,
circular totes, &c.
To rest, or surplus fund.
To the profits of the past half-year

£4,293,784 1 8

Cr. _
By Government securities . £1,295,047 10 0
By other securities 2,409,864 19 10
By cash in hand 588,871 11 10

£4,293,784 1 8

Dr. PROFIT AND LOSS.
To'psyment of the dividend now de-
clared at the rate of 6 per cent.
per annum, on a capital of 1,000,0001.
tor the half-year ending 30th June,
1848 30,000 0 0
To balance of unappropriated profits 95,486 13 10

Cr. .£125,486 13 10
By balance of unappropriated pro-
fits on 31st December, 1847 ...... £100,647 16 11
By net profits of the past half-year
after deft tying the total expense
of management, paying the in-
come tax, and making provision
for all bad and doubtful debts ... 24,838 16 11

£125,486 13 10

By balance) of unappropriated profits £95,486 13 10
In commenting upon the above statements.
The CHAIRMAN said it was perhaps his duty to
call their attention to a circumstance which might
be inferred from the report, namely, that 5,0001.
had been taken from the balance of unappropriated
profits of last year, to make up the dividend for the
half•year just ended. The half-yearly meetings
might operate as a salutary check upon the directors,
but he thought a yearly statement of the accounts
and balances would be more convenient to all
parties; and if the accounts just rendered
bad been deferred till the end of the year,
tie affairs of the bank,- would have doubtless
borne a much inure favourable aspect. They were
aware the interest of money was exceedingly low,
and also of the great desire the directors evinced not
to force the business of the establishment. They had
a very large capital, a wealthy proprietary, and a
good connexion ; and the figures showed that they
possessed a high credit of which they might be justly
proud ( Applause.) Therefore, with all these sources
of strength and power, they might rely upon it when
they put all their foice to work at the proper time—
when they put on their full steam under the safest cir-
cumstances, that the prosperity of the establishment
and their dividends would largely increase. Another
point to which he would call attention was the alter-
ation of the deed of settlement, so as to enable the
annual meetings to be held, and likewise the dividends
to be paid, at an earlier period than heretofore.
There was now no longer any reason why the pro-
prietors should not enjoy the fruits of their under-
taking in January instead of March, although nt an
earlier period of the bank's history, it might have
been thought wisest to be on the safe side, and adopt
the latter month for the payment of dividends. The
Chairman concluded by moving that the report be
received and adopted.
Mr. LEVI thought, as they were about to alter the
deed of settlement, at any rate they ought so to
amend the system of electing the directors as to
enable the proprietors to have a voice in the appoint-
ment of those who were ,to be entrusted with the
management of their property. Under the present
system a man might have 300 or 400 shares in the
company, and yet he could not vote for a director.
This was altogether unreasonable and unconstitu-
tional, and ought to be changed.
Mr. MAUDSLEY had every confidence in the Direc-
tors ; but he wished to know how the deficit had arisen
upon the past half-year. Last March they had up-
wards of 100,0001. of accumulated fund ; and to-day
that fund was only 95,0001. lie confessed that he did
not approve of half-yearly statements, as the one-half
of the year would often be found to balance with the
other. If the deficiency arose upon the branch baaks
it ought to be stated; and if any particular branch
did not answer, let it be taken into consideration
whether it would not be advisable to abandon it
altogether. Ile (Mr. Maudsley) highly disapproved
of the unlimited advances which had been made upon
the security of colonial produce, and hoped they
would be discontinued ; for a warrant upon colonial
produce, in his opinion, was nothing more than a bit
of mere waste paper. Ile wished also to know the
circumstances under which Mr. Rennie had retired
from the direction last year. He (Mr. Maudsley)
also observed, that he cordially approved of Mr.
Levi's suggestion for giving the proprietors greater
power in the election of directors.
Mr. TUE wished to state that the whole secret of
the deficit alluded to by Mr. Maudsley was, that they
could not invest the it money so well during the past
half-year as in the preceding year ; there had been
no loss. Mr. Rennie was not there to defend him-
self, and it would, therefore, be unjust to go into
questions affecting his character in his absence. It
might, however, be a fair question to ask if Dlr.
Rennie left the bank in its debt. As to the election
of the directors, under the existing regime, if any
proprietor wished to nominate a candidate, he might
give notice of his intention to do so, and the pro-
prietors had the option of preferring such a candidate
to the nominee of the board.
The CluiemAre then replied to a variety 'of ques-
tions put by various proprietors. He said that if a
better mode of enabling the directors to express their
dissent to the candidates recommended for selection
warrants, a
to give
could be found, the board would b e happy
it effect. As regarded coloniald
bill represented character, en was
only
when character was exhausted that bankers fell
back upon warrants.
The bank had now 3,20.0,0001.
of public money in its hands, and he believed it
would soon be doubled. lie was confident the main
ground of public confidence in the establishment was
that it had so large a proportion of 'its capital in-
vested i
vested in the funds. The branch banks were very
prosperous ; and it was not to any one of them, but
to the principal establishment, that the present defi-
ciency was attributable. That deficiency was ex-
clusively owing to the large amount of losses which
had to be deducted during the past half-
year ;
for the profits had been undiminished in amount,
14.000/. bad debts had been written off during the
past half-year, 9,0001. of which properly appertained
to the preceding year's transactions. The losses had
now all come to a close, so far as they could be cal-
culated.
The report was then adopted nem. con., as were also
the formal resolutions supplementary to it, and a vote
of thanks to the Chairman and directors wound up the
day's proceedings.