The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-02 00:00:00

SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE ON THE
HABITUAL CRIMINALS BILL.

Sir Stafford Northcote, M.P., as chairman of the
Devon quarter sessions, at Exeter Castle on Wednesday
called the attention of the grand jury to the
Habitual Criminals Bill. He said that out of
twenty-eight cases on the calendar before him,
twelve of the priboners had been previously convicted,
and some of them several times. It was a very serious
consideration that so many persons as this state of the
calendar betokened should be given up to repeated acts
of crime, and the grand jury would agree with him
that the Habitual Criminals Bill, which had received
so much attention in the House of Lords, deserved the
most serious attention of the House of Commons. It was
absolutely necessary that stringent measures should be
taken for repressing the offences of habitual criminals.

THE FAILURE OF THE BOMBAY BANK.

-4.

The long inquiry into the causes of the failure of the
Bank of Bombay has at length terminated, and the com-
missioners have issued their report. It is the old story.
The old Bank of Bombay, established under the Act
of IS4G, was a very safe and prosperous under-
taking, its business being conducted on the most cautious
principles. But certain changes have taken place. A
new Act was drawn up and passed in 1863, and after this
date the old system of safe dealing was abandoned, and the
bank rapidly went to ruin. The Act of 1813 prohibited
the discount of negociable securities unless two person!
with firms unconnected were bound by them. The
new Act allowed discount on any negociable
securities. The old Act prohibited, with certain
exceptions such as loans to Government, any advances of
greater amount than three lacs (about £30,000), and for
a longer period than three months. The new Act
omitted these and many other restrictions. Alto-
gether, the old Act preserved the bank within
the safest possible limits, whilst the new one left it open to
the most reckless trading. These facilities were taken
advantage of by Premchund Rozchund, a broker, who had
amassed a large fortune in cotton during the Ameri-
can war, and who obtained such a position in
Bombay that his name and influence were deemed
requisite to the success of every undertaking. He was
called the keystone of the commercial prosperity of
Bombay ; he was trusted, knew everybody, was wealthy,
his charities were munificent, and his position in short
was, in the opinion of Sir Bartle Frere,like nothing that he
had heard of in any other community. This man, through
the facilities afforded by the new Act, ruined the bank.
His influence soon gained the ascendancy over the direc-
tors and officials of the bank, and the result was
that the bank became Premchund's. If Premchund had a
friend to oblige who wanted money, he recommended
him for a loan. If Premchund had shares to
sell he would suggest to an acquaintance that he
should buy, offering at the same time to " finance"
the purchase money, by procuring him a loan
from the Bank of Bombay. If Premchund wanted money
for a speculation, he would suggest to some friend to join
him in it, and then procure a loan in his friend's name
for the money required. To the influence of this man,
added to the facilities for swindling afforded by the new
Act, the commissioners attribute the ruin of the bank.
They likewise blame the secretaries, who were weak
and unprincipled, and the directors and president,
who, with certain exceptions, were either negli-
gent or incompetent. No sound legal advice or
assistance was applied for, and, moreover, the bank was
most inefficiently managed just at the time when good
management was most requisite.