The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-08 00:00:00

_EVENING SUN

MARYLEBONE BANK.

An adjourned special general meeting of the Pro-
prietors of the "Borough of Marylebone Bank?' was yes-
terday held at the offices in Cavendish-square. The ori-
ginal meeting, it will be remembered, was called for the
purpose of taking into consideration the then state of the
affairs of the Bank, the resignation of Mr. David Hannay,
the Managing_ Director, the propriety of dissolving the
cOnlyttpyx and on general business.
Tl:The::statements and explanations.which were elicited
titi4.-Aat occasion excited very great astonishment, and,
having_ Oven rise to a very lengthened discussion, even-
tually led to the appointment of a Committee, armed
Witll:powers to enter into a close and minute investiga-
tiOn of the affairs and state of the accounts of the Bank,
and to report thereon to the general body of Proprietors
at the'adjourned meeting, which was appointed for yes-
terday.
The meeting was fully and very respectably attended,
although a circular had on the pr evious day been sent
round,. stating that inasmuch as the act.rountant had not
lieerLable, from the complicated manner in which the
accounts of the Bank had been kept, to furnish the Com-
mittee with any authentic or complete statement as to
the condition of its affairs, the meeting would only be
liehl for the purpose of a further adjournment.
Lorie, one of the Directors was selected to act as
Chairman. ,

-,After some preliminary conversation,
Mr. VIZARD expressed a desire to know what had
been done since the former meeting by the Committee,
whether in fact the Committee were in a condition to
afford'iny information to the Proprietors.—(Hear.)
Mr. ABRAHAM, the Chairman of the Committee, in
reply, stated, that they had met very constantly, indeed
three or four times a week, since their appointment, and
they had only been delayed in their proceedings by the
inability of Mr. Quilter, the accountant, to place before
them a full statement of the accounts of the concern.
That gentleman had advanced as the chief sources of
such inability three points--first, the great difficulty
there was in making out the accounts ; secondly, as to
he precise position in which he was placed ; and, thirdly,
the character in which he was to be considered as deli-
vering in the statement of the affairs. That gentleman
bid expressed an anxiety to see Mr. Roy, the Solicitor,
wits a view of ascertaining the position in which he was
tand in
reference to the Directors, and also as to
whether end,
statement he was to deliver to the Commit-
tee was to be a statement presenting fully the situation
of the Bank, or only a partial statement of the details of
theaffairS ; or whether the statement was to be full, and
accompanied by such comments as he might conceive any
partieular.iteros to demand from him. Eventually, howe-
very it had been determined that he was to furnish the
Committee with a full statement of the position of the
affairs of the bank, which he had then stated he should
be in a condition to do in the course of a week from that
time. At the expiration of that period the Committee
had'assembled again, with the full expectation that the
statement would have been forwarded to them. The Com-
mittee, however, had been doomed to disappointment,
for it appeared hat the accountant had not been able to
lay before them anything like a complete statement of
the affairs, but that gentleman had said that he had
brought abalance-sheet, which he had prepared for the
previous special meeting. The Committee had there-
upop considered that they had better have the then ba-
lance-sheet than nothing at all. But there had arisen a
difficulty, inasmuch as the document bore the signature
of !‘ Hannay," and its correctness was certified by the
Directors. A consultation had consequently been held
with the solicitor, who had decided that that paper could
not be handed over to the Committee, because it was
the original document, but. that a copy thereof might.
Accordingly the accountant had promised to supply the
copy on the fallowing day, and that in a given time he
should be prepared with the remaining part of the state-
ment. Nevertheless further time had been afterwards re-
quired,a still extended delay had also been subsequently de-
manded, and it had not been until the 23d of the last month
that the Coimilittee had obtained any information upon
the subject; and then that information had been but very
little, it being stated by Mr. Quilter that the accounts
had been kept in the most perfect way that could possibly
be imagined, with a view to effect the object the parties
must have intended ; that, in fact, he had never seen any
accounts kept in so admirable a manner with a view to
the'commission of a fraud upon the general body of Pro-
prietors.—(Hear, hear.) Notwithstanding this, the ac-
countant lead promised to supply the Committee with
the full statement in a few days. But the Committee
had received no account in fact from that gentleman,
which had placed them in such a position as to dis-
enable that body from laying any statement whatever
before the meeting of a definite character. He was
bound, therefore, to declare, that until the statement
in question had been -obtained from the accountant,
it was utterly impossible that the Committee could
put the Proprietors in the possession of the actual
position of the affairs of the Bank.—(Hear.) It was
due to that gentleman, however, to add, that he Lad
intimated to the Committee that he had lost no time, and
that it hid been through no fault on his part that the
statement had not been forthcoming, agreeably to the
promise he. had made. On Thursday last the members
of the 'Committee of Inquiry had received a summoas to
attend a meeting of the Directors at two o'clock on the
following;ality. Upon the receipt of that communica-
tion a now had been sent to the accountant, in which he
was requeated to come up to the Boar and Castle Tavern,
in Oxford4reet, where the Committee met, and to bring
a statement of thteaceounts with him. The accountant,
however, instead of coming, had. sent a reply stating that
a prior engagement would prevent his compliance with
thciir request, but added, that,as there was to be a meet-
ir,g of all parties, the Directors, the Committee; the So-
licitor, and himself, as the AccOuntant, at his offices at
two o'clock on the same day, he should then place before
them a statement, but which statement could not but be
incomplete. With this reply the Committee reluctantly
were compelled to rest satisfied; and accordingly, in
conformity with . the request of the Directors, they
bad attended the meeting in question. The Account-
ant, it turned out, was prepared only with a portion of
the accounts, but declined to hand even the incomplete
statement over to the Committee, until there had been
an entire understanding as to the way on which it was
to be placed in their possession. The solicitor intimated
that there could be no objection to the documents being
given to the Committee, so long as there was a distinct
understanding that that body should not make an im-
proper use of 'or publish them. It would, he conceived,
be unnecessary for him to declare to the present meeting
that the Committee could have had no intention to mis-
apply or to misuse any statement which they might re-
ceive from the accountant. All they had required was
the best information that could be obtained, with a view
to placing something like a tangible and correct state-
ment before the general body of the Proprietors.—
(Hear, hear.) It had then been arranged that a copy of
tl • at eunnts should be sent to the Committee on the fol-
lowing'.day—an arrangement which had been fulfilled.
Then they had arrived at the circular which had called
thenvbefore the Directors, and it had been ultimately
agreed, that the accounts were in such a state, and would
require so much time to arrange them, as to render it ad-
tisablei to adjourn the present meeting until the 4th of
November next. He might say that the Committee were in
state' of ignorance as to the question of assets. The
meeting had been the act of the Directors—the COM-
mitteehad had nothing to do with its convenement--
they had known nothing of it. The further adjournment,'
however, had . been suggested, in order to afibrd an op-
portunity of enabling the Committee to be in possession
of all the facts and circumstances of the case, and there-
fore they had not had any hesitation in promising their
support,to a motion to that effect.—(Hear, hear.)
VIZARD observed, that after the statements they
had just heard, there did not appear to be any option as
to the question of adjournment. He was, however, some-
what at a loss to understand how it was that the ac-
countant, who had at the Last meeting expressed himself
with such extreme confidence as to the correctness of
the accounts, should have so much difficulty.—(Hear,
hear.) It would be in the recollection of every gentle-
man present, that upon that occasion the accountant had
stated his readiness to certify as to the accuracy of the
accounts, and thereby created the inference that he was
well acquainted with them.—(Hew- hear.)
Mr. ROY, the solicitor, saidtultitiaot;
its debts,
to the
Ito itate of t,llO and theex
.r there was
.i
question but the Committee' were, and v
too, their inquiries much further.—(bear,
her.) The Committee were desirous to ascertain how i;
had been that the affairs of the Bank had fallen into such
a state—(Hear, hear)—and under whose guidance and
by whose acts such a painful result had been arrived at.
—(Heat%) To that fact the delay might be attributed.
Mr. ABRAHAM said, the Committee had conceived that
the subjects of inquiry which had just been mentioned
by the Learned Gentlethan were questions which, as a
matter of duty, they, were called upon to enter into.—
(Hear, hear.) The Committee were anxious to discover
the cause of the lamentable condition of the affairs of the
Bank, and they wanted to ascertain that the statement as
to the amount of its liabilities was correct.—(Hear, hear.)
They had heenthe more strongly led to the latter point
.of inquirY-fi:om having found out that in the account,
the balance. sheet which had been 'laid before them, it
had appeared that a sum of 25,4751. 9s. 9d. was due to the
London and Westminster Bank, when in fact such was
not the truth.—(sear.)
Mr. ROY said, the accountant had subsequently stated
that that item was a mistake. It was quite true that
there had been that amount owing, but the account ought
to have stated that it was owing to the London and
-Westminster and-other parties, and not to the foriner
titablishment alone.—(Hear.)
Mr. ABRAHAM observed, that for the very reason that
inch an error had appeared on the balance,-sheet, he
had been; the-more anxtors to put some questions to the
accountant in the presence of that meetin g.—(Hear,
bear.) That gentleman had not satisfied the l:onitnittee.
It, however, had turned out that the stun whic 'a had been
burrowed of the London and Westminster B:uik on se-
curities was not more than 15,0001: odd. in the copy
of the bahthee,-sheet which he had in his hand the cor-
teetion had be'en made by the introduction of the words
and others." But the Committee had felt -that a cor-
tee, tion of such a nature, without any accolnii.tanying ex-
Planation or statement, was a proceeding of a somewhat
ex-
Planation
nature.—(Hear, hear.) They had consi-
dered that some little explanation at least . mid been re-
'''red. Well, then, the Committee were ta Ting to find
;51,4 how so important a mistake could have appeared in
Ze,ihee of the statement. They had asked for an expla-
ira'n, butlooa hd not received any. The pp Tietors must,
ereforek tx) the accountant himself,ro tt. highly re-
4Pectable,member of the profession to which he belonged
;;;Stlear, hear)--for the explanation. Wen the Corn
w;'lt !e had not been satisfied with the get level way in
licit the statement had been drawn up. Vor instance,
wt talked of stir. dry subscriptions (as was; 'understood)
rard up, 39,383/. odd. The Committee litu I asked by
r those subscriptions, or at least who those Sub-
7ibers 'or Shareholders were, but the repl yof the Ac-
p,1-Intent had been, that he could not tel L--( Hear, hear.)
oint ommittee 'had been the more particular on this
we, because they had grounds for supposie g that there
re son* sbixefkiders whose names 'lid >4t it appear in
. •