The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-23 00:00:00

T v, SUN, LONDON, S.\ TURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 23, 1869.

synodlcaliy condemning nun, ana 'Mat It Solemnly
refused to do so. In referring to this matter he
would not say a word against one who has been by
divine permission his diocesan, and who is now
passing into a world where nothing will conceal
from him the nature of his own acts ; but it is not
for those who prosecuted him in the secular courts,
and who denied his appeal to Convocation, to com-
plain of the character of those courts now that they
have given a hostile judgment. Dr. Williams draws
as a moral from his " reverend assailant's" letter
that
If ever his friends and precursors become as powerful to
legislate as they are now prompt to litigate, the first result
will be at least two additions to the number of our Thirty-
nine Articles. Or, again, if in the meantime the coquetry
of a veteran dogmatist with Wesleyanism should have led
to the temporary abeyance of our Articles, it will soon be
followed by a bland suggestion that, to escape spiritual
anarchy, we should do well to adopt the regulations of the
last great Council of the Western Church.
No doubt the Articles, framed during a crisis of
danger, might be revised with advantage ; but he
would not like to surrender them " without devising
something else to bind Dr. Pusey's sons (if the
serpent's brood can be bound) with links of iron."
Dr. Pusey he styles " the great Oxford heresiarch,"
and his objections to the articles are mostly objections
to Scripture. Dr. Williams would not surrender those
articles on the plea of toleration in order to make
room for Dr. Pusey's criticism or Mr. Mackonochie's
law. Finally, if the necessity for doing justice to
Ireland should give the advocates of " ecclesiastical
disintegration " a temporary appearance of advantage
as regards England, Dr. Williams hopes that a
derangement of the balance will be rectified by
consideration for the principles of truth, freedom,
and order.

THE PRIMATE AND THE CURATES' AUGMENTATION

FUND.

The inquiries and comments made by the press m
tne matter of the management of the Curates' Aug-
mentation Fund have rather damaged that institution.
The injury, however, we imagine, may easily be
repaired bya closer application to economy on the part
of the committee. But they have taken another course to
repair lost prestige ; they have invoked the aid of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. "A. C. Cantuax " sends
the following certificate of respectability:—" I am
very sorry that the cause of the Fund should have
seemed to be prejudiced by anything which has been
recently said about it in the newspapers. I have
every reason to think that the fund is doing a good
work. The leading rules which your committee have
from time to time adopted have been (as you know)
submitted to me, and fully discussed ; and I have
always felt that no other society could, consistently
with the purposes for which it was founded, do the
work which this association proposed to itself to do."

ZWUCEEDINGS AGAINST THE DIRECTOR
OF OTEREND, GURNEY, AND CO-

The criminal suit against the directors of Overend, Gur
ney, and Co. (Limited) was resumed in the Court of
Queen's Bench, at the London Guildhall, yesterday,
before the Lord Mayor and Sir Thomas Gabriel. Th€
court was again crowded.
Mr. Lewis, jun., conducted the case on behalf Dr. Adam
Thom, the prosecuting shareholder, and the six defendant:
(who occupied seats below the counsel) were represented a.:
follows :—For Mr. J. H. Gurney, Mr. E. H. Gurney, and
Mr. R. Birkbeck—Mr. Serjeant Ballantine and Mr. J.
C. Mathew appeared ; Mr. Barclay was represented by
Serjeant Parry and Mr. Montagu Williams ; Mr. Gordon
by Mr. Serjeant Sleigh and Mr. Ledgard ; and Mr.
Rennie by Mr. Hardinge Giffard, Q.C., Mr. Poland, and :
Mr. Gardyne.
The proceedings commenced yesterday morning with the
reading over of the previous evidence given by Mr. Robert
Palmer Harding, who is a partner in the firm of Harding,
Whinney, and Co., accountants, appointed by the Court •
of Chancery to assist in the liquidation of Overend
Gurney, and Co. (Limited).
In coming to the evidence concerning the Greek and
Oriental Company which appeared on the books of the
limited company as a debt of £144,000, witness
desired to give an explanation with regard to his conduct
in not taking any steps to recover the amount. Leave
was granted, and witness said he was not aware till ques-
tioned of the liability of the Greek and Oriental Company :
and he was so put aback by the manner in which Sir
Thomas Gabriel pressed him that he did not think
of referring to the books which would have shewn
that the debt was treated as irrecoverable in
December 1865, which was previous to his coming
into the liquidation, and therefore they did not take any
further steps in the matter.
Mr. Harding's examination was resumed by Mr. Lewis,
who handed the endorsements to documents of the several
defendants, to which the witness replied to each what he
thought they were.
Witness said he wished to explain the total loss of the
old firm ; he was afraid Mr. Oke had given the suspense
and guarantee account with the profit and loss. The re-
discounts were £30,000,000.
And conducted with ordinary care it would yield large
profits ?—Yes.
Was there, during the period that these gentlemen were
nrrying on this business, a panic 2—Yes ; the Bank of
England rate rose very much. There was a large
depression in the funds, and it was through the peculiar
state of the money market that much of the loss accrued to
the limited company.
What was the amount apparent to the old firm in the
Limited company?—The debit to Overend, Gurney, and
Co. is £4,213,000. But the transfer reduced it to
£2,909,000, the debt due by the old firm to the limited
company.
Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Ballantine : Have you
gone through the books of the old firm, and can you +on
us the quantity of bills discounted ?
Witness : Yes. In 1801 the total of bills discounted
was £53,000,000 ; in 1862, £54,000,000 ; in 1863
£63,000,000 ; in 1864, £74,000,000.
Mr. Serjeant Ballantine : I presume this was entirely
irrespective of the excepted account ? No ; the bills
would be repeated as bills discounted.
Do you find that the profits would have been conside-
rable ?

Witness : The advances and securities on shipping must
have realised large profits.
What is the amount of the bills discounted by the
ew company during the nine months ?-256,000,000 had
gone into the guarantee of the estates of their privste pro-
perties. The landed estates were not included in the
securities ; there had been realised under the deeds of
inspection of th,.'t estates £600,000, and it was expected
that snore wou.d be realised. Some portions of the estates
had been sold previous to the realisation, and this went
into the suspense and guarantee account.
Would the sale of this property during the existence of
the new limited company have had any effect ?—This was
the case to some extent, it being known that some of the
estates were being realised.
A book was handed to witness, and he was asked about
some of the pages that were alleged to have been
torn out. Witness was of opinion that the pages torn out
had been blank, because there was no reference to them in
the index. It was not an unusual thing to have a sheet
torn out of a press copy-book to put away with the
original document.
Mr. Serjeant Ballantine : Your lordship will remember
that it was said that this was a guarantee book ; and the
insinuation was that the leaves had been torn out for the
lurposes of fraud.
Witness's examination continued : The amount of the
..eposits actually withdrawn during the last four months
was more than £4,000,000. That was partly owing
to the realisation of some of the Gurneys' estates. With
respect to the calllof £5 mentioned on witness's last exami-
tion, he expected that if commercial matters should not
get worse some of this money would be returned.
Mr. Serjeant Ballantine : Take care you don't promise
them.

By Mr. Serjeant Parry: Mr. Barclay had contributed
£35,000 in respect of his calls.
By Mr. Serjeant Sleigh : Has Mr. Gordon held 200
shares in the company, and paid upon them £7,000 ?—Yes •

that is so.
lie•examined by Mr. Lewis : Was2oo shares the qualifi-
cation for a director ?—I think it was. Mr. Rennie held
200. The Messrs. Gurney held 8,320 shares. You said
the limited company had made £2,000 without reckoning
the bad debts ?—That was after debiting the rebate.
Mr. Lewis : Yes ; I know that. What was the gross
interest of the company during the nine months, without
reckoning interest, on the suspense and guarantee ac-
count?
Witness : £1,413 was the profit during the nine months,
without deducting the bad and doubtful debts.
What was the profit on the £56,000,000 of balance dis-
counted ?—I do not know; it would be about the £1,400
mentioned.
What was the loss by the bad and doubtful debts
£1,053,000.
Are there any other than the £1,400 as the interest from
the £56,000,000? Have you ascertained during the five
years preceding the transfer how much they lost?--About
£4,000,000.
You said that part of the failure was to be attributable
to the realisation of the private estates of the defendants,
the Messrs. Gurney ?—Yes ; I believe that had something
to do with it. At the time of the stoppage I was casti7
up the balances in the company's house. Was one of the
auditors of the company appointed in March 1866.
Mr. William Turquand, of the firm of Turquand,
Young, and Co., was appointed a liquidator of the
Overend, Gurney, and Co. by the Court of Chancery.
Messrs. Peto and Betts agreed with Messrs.
Gurney and Co. about a railway in Turkey ;
rnd after surveying the place it was given up, and the two
parties to the agreement had each to pay £14,000. That
appeared in the new company's suspense account as
£14,000 standing to the credit of Gurney and Co.,
whereas it was a loss. The Greek and Oriental
Company was composed of a person of the
name of Stephanos Xenos, and the Messrs. Overend
and Gurney advanced him several sums of money,
amounting to £144,000, for which the Messrs. Gurney
took over several ships, which were afterwards incorpo-
rated as the Levant and Black Sea Company, and on this
there was al' ss of £38,000. These were both handed over
to the limited company, under the head of excepted
accounts.
The next witness, Mr. William Peek, put in severa,
letters, notably one from " H. E. Gurney," in which it
was stated that no bad debts had been made by the old
firm until " Pinto and C 0.," and assuring the interrogator
that all losses to the firm caused by the failure of the
Millwall Company would be debited to the old fun.
After some further evidence the court adjourned.

FOREIGN NOTES.