The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-07 00:00:00

"TO THE ME3IIIERS OP THE STOCK-EXCHANGE.

"Gentlemen,—The committee for general purposes have
already made known to you their several awards of punish-
ment against Mr. R. Johnston, Mr. S. Sheldon; Mr. T.
Uzielli, Mr. W. A. Bradock, and Messrs. It. S., J. S., and
C. J. Scrimgeour, for having carried on speculative trans-
actions for W. G. Pullinger, when chief cashier to the
Union Bank of London, without communicating with his
employers; and having also recorded their severe censure
of the conduct of Messrs. Bell and Ball, their duties, under
ordinary circumstances, might have been considered at an
end.

" They think, however, that it should be publicly known
that the offence for which the members suspended have
been so severely dealt with was a disregard of the warning
contained in a rule (No. 85) passed by the committee for
the especial protection of banking and other interests, and
they deem it an act of justice to yourselves to give publicity
to the result of a long and careful investigation, which en•
ables them to state, that neither from any data furnished
by the Union Bank, nor by evidence otherwise obtained,
have they any knowledge or suspicion that other members
of the Stock Exchange are implicated in these unjustifiable
transactions.

" The committee wish to make these facts known as
speedily as possible, as they conceive that the Stock Ex-
change—a body numbering more than 1,000 members, and
largely representing the commercial and financial interests
of this country—has been suffering too long from a general
reproach which, in reality, should only attach to five of its
present firms—one of the offending parties, the firm of
Messrs. Bell and Ball, who carried on by far the largest
operations for W. G. Pullinger, being, in consequence of
default in and since April, 1819, beyond the control of the
committee.

" Your committee also consider that some notice should
be taken of the circular issued in April last to the share •
holders of the Union Bank of London, in which the direc-
tors, frcm the confessions of Pullinger, most hastily adopted
by themselves, lead the public to infer that the enormous
amount of £263,000, embezzled by the delinquent clerk,
had been lost by him in speculations on the Stock Ex-
change. _ . _

" Your committee refrain from commenting en the evi-
dent laxity of that system of check which has proved itself
not only insufficient to prevent the commission of a gigantic
fraud, but has allowed it to remain undetected from year
to year.
Your committee wish distinctly to state that the only
documents possessed by the directors of the Union Bank,
upon which they adopted the assertions of Pullinger, were
certain brokers' notes and accounts, generally without head-
ing or signature, and representing a trifling loss of about
£17,290. Upon this p int there can be no doubt, as the com-
mittee have seen and examined the whole of these papers ;
and the directors of the Union Bank admit that they nei-
ther had, when they issued their circular, nor have since
found, any other documents than tkose referred to.
" By an account of banknotes passed and credits given,
the Union Bank of London have furnished to your com-
mittee sufficient evidence to enable them to carry through
a general and searching inquiry, including a viva voce exa-
mination of the brokers accused of having undertaken spe-
culative business for Pullinger; but in order to obtain a
full knowledge of the facts a sub-committee was specially
appointed to analyse and report upon each separate account,
and, from their investigation, it results that the balance of
moneys actually paid by W. G. Pullinger, on account of
speculative transactions carried on through members of the
Stock •Exchange (including Messrs. Bell and Ball), from
January, 1855, when the defalcations first commenced, up
to April of the present year, amounted to a total of £33,285.
It is but reasonable to suppose that this amount would not
have been so large had not Pullinger's operations been
greatly facilitated by the extraordinary power which he ap-
pears to have possessed in passing entries to the accounts
and in the passbooks of those brokrs who kept accounts at
the Union Bank. _ _

" Through what channels the immense balance of above
nOO,OOO has passed it is scarcely a question for this com-
mittee to decide. But it appears, in an account furnished
by the Union Bank, that the delinquent Pullinger had
passed credits amounting to £57,000 to a person named
Nathan, who is reported to have died lately at Paris, pos-
sessed of considerable wealth, and who had, at the time
these entries were made, an account with the Union Bank;
but as Nathan was never a member of the Stock-Exchange,
the committee can have no knowledge of his transactions.
There is also very sufficient evidence that Pulllinger was
largely interested in the results of horse-racing.
"To co-operate with the directors of the Union Bank,
and to render them every assistance, has been the constant
wish of the committee; and they have much
pleasure in
knowing that, from information forwarded through them,
and by individual members of the Stock-Exchange, the
directors have been enabled to realise valuable assets placed
by Pullinger in the names of other persons.
" On the other hand, the directors of the Union Bank
not only furnished information leading to the suspension of
Messrs. Bradock, Johnston, Sheldon, and Uzielli, but in
answer to the earnest requests of your committee, promised
to forward to them as soon as obtained every intelligence as
to the participation of other members of the Stock Ex-
change in speculative transactions for Pullinger.
The following facts will enable you to decide whether
the promises made by the directors of the Union Bank have
been fulfilled.
" Immediately after the discovery of the enormous loss
sustained by the Union Bank, Messrs. Scrimgeour commu-
nicated to the Bank, through the manager, Mr. W. W.
Scrimgeour, that they, the brokers to the company, had
carried on a speculative account for W. G. Pullinger ; but
the committee regret to say that no communication was
made to them on this subject by either manager or direc-
tors, and that the knowledge of the offence committed was
obtained by your committee through an entirely different
channel, and at an interval of more than a month after the
first communication of Messrs. Scrimgeour to the manager
of the Union Barak.
" Determined as your committee have been to administer
strict and impartial justice to all, and believing that the
feelings of the directors of the Union Bank of London were
entirely in unison with their own, the discovery of this im-
portant suppression has caused them considerable pain and
surprise.
" in conclusion, your committee cannot but express re-
gret that even six firms of the Stock Exchange should have
carried on speculations on account of a clerk in a banking
establishment; but they trust they have shown that they
are determined to enforce obedience to a law passed spe-
cially to protect the interests of the public; and they feel
confident they represent the feeling of the entire body of the
Stock Exchange in saying that they deeply deplore the
acts of those who, by their misconduct, have compromised
the character of the Stook Exchange.
"By order of the Committee,
" GEORGE LOVELESS, Secretary.
" Stock Exchange, June .61"