The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-24 00:00:00

FINANCIAL REVELATIONS.

The revelations being made at the Mansion House
concerninc, the business operations of the English
Joint-Stock' Bank are not calculated to raise the
prevailing estimation of financiers. The love for
commissions obtains hold everywhere. Directors
and other officers of companies are paid by the share-
holders for doing their business for them ; are paid
by those with whom they negotiate on be-
half of the shareholders ; are paid again by
those through whom they negotiate ; and
in effect all three sums of money come from the
pockets of the shareholders. We do not mean for
one moment to say that the said well-paid financiers
do not go to the best men to do business. Only
there is, it must be admitted, the danger that they
will go to the men who give the largest commissions.
Mr. Finney, for instance, was the secretary of the
Joint-Stock Bank, and had to make arrangements for
the buying of the firm of Olding and Co. He chose
a Mr. Weller to make the negotiations. Mr. Weller
made them ; and the directors voted him £4,000 for
his trouble. What followed may best be described
by Mr. Weller himself:—
"He received from Mr. Finney for negotiating the
transaction £4,000 on the 7th of November. The money
was paid him in four £l,OOO notes, two of which he handed
back to Mr. Finney. Being asked why he returned
£2,000 of the money, witness replied the conversation took
a peculiar turn, which shelved that Mr. Finney would
expect two of the £l,OOO notes. It was written, he added,
in fact, in large letters on the wall. Being asked why
he assumed the secretary would require a douceur, witness
replied, amid much laughter, and with a significant gesture,.
There was no precise authority, but it was everywhere—
allabout.' " _ _ .

It appears that Mr. Finney swore in Chancery that
he had received no moneys in this affair, for Mr.
Lewis gave notice that he should apply for a
summons for perjury against him.

SMALL FLOATING BATTERIES.
Blr William Armstrong points out, in a letter to
the Times, that our commercial harbours are practi-
cally defenceless. An enemy in time of war might
send an invulnerable warship into the port of Liver-
pool and destroy utterly the masses of merchant
ships which are there closely packed in docks, might
lay in ruins the large stacks of warehouses and millions
of pounds worth of merchandise. To do so would
be barbarous, would be unworthy of this
age; but Sir William argues that we should not
trust to the forbearance of an enemy in this respect,
we should provide against the occurrence of such a
catastrophe. Ile proposes to do so by establishing
fleets of small vessels at our commercial harbours.
The Staunch, a recent invention of Mr. Mendel, Sir
William's partner, is just of the kind which he
thinks is required. This vessel, though a mere barge
in point of size, carries a 12,1-ton gun, the move-
ments of which are effected by steam power,
so that a very small crew suffices for working
it. The boat is propelled by twin screws,
which give her such a power of turning that she
can change the direction of her large gun as
easily and quickly as if it were mounted on a turn-
table. She is encumbered with no armour, because
her safety lies in her smallness, which renders her
difficult to hit, and because armour is worse than use-
less when opposed to guns capable of piercing it.
She is cheap. The cost of a couple of ironclad
frigates would furnish a hundred Staunches. A large
armour-plated ship, surrounded by six of these
kind of vessels, would have as many guns against
her as she carried, would find it difficult to sink one
of her enemy, and if she succeeded in doing so
would have only destroyed one-sixth of the power
against her, while she herself would be struck each
time, and would be in great danger of being sent to
the bottom. This would be applicable (Sir William
adds) only to commercial harbours, not to places like
Portsmouth or Plymouth.