The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-24 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

(From the Westminster Gazette.)
The difficulty experienced by the public in
liquidating their accounts is still as marked as
ever. There is no obstacle in borrowing money at
3 per cent. upon approved securities. It is in
that way the liquidation is put off from month to
month in the hope that at last a favourable turn
will take place and prices go up. But month
after month the public meet with the same dis-
appointment ; they find prices lower, and many
are obliged to confess that, if they had sold and
liquidated their accounts on the first day of the
panic, they would have been gainers, and would
not have wasted their money in paying inter-
est. The great quest4on is, therefore, how and on
what day will this fall in the market cease ?
That day will come when all outstanding accounts
are settled ; when everybody has money at his
bankers to meet engagements and calls still pen-
ding ; in one word, when the liquidation is con-
summated. But who can tell when that liquidation
will be over? Has it not ;been shown that there
exists 1,500 limited liability companies which are
not quoted upon 'the official lists? Consequently
it is difficult, not to say impossible, to ascertain
what are the liabilities outstanding ; and nobody
can tell the ability of those who hold these securi-
ties to meet them. Those are unknown figures to
all, and consequently nobody can predict the day
when this liquidation will be over. The extent
and depth of the evil are no mystery ; but human
foresight is incapable of fathoming the depth of
the precipice opened during the mania of limited
liability companies after the passing of the Act in
1862. The cause of this monstrous state of affairs
is to be found in the reckless facility with which
Parliament grants its Acts ; no provision was
made in passing that Act to protect the public
against the class of persons that sprung up calling
themselves directors, patrons, or trustees, concoct-
ing schemes to tickle the fancy of the public, and
pander to their prejudices, both political and re-
ligious. Garibaldi was carried in triumph through
the streets of London to make the public swallow
every kind of Italian (in) security ; Rome was
attacked—that decrepit old man the vilest in-
sinuations were instilled to keep the public mind
closed against truth, to enable these sharp practi-
tioners to feed upon the credulity of their dupes ;
to arouse their prejudices—to send up worthless
shares to such wonderful premiums that Robert
Macaire in his best days would have been content
with a fraction of such success. How many made
their harvest out of the public credulity during
this temporary sunshine? A greater number have,
punished by the same means.
h Pleasurew e v e r ,
for
or been m
easure has been doled out by an all-
wise and just Providence. During this mania the
thirst was so great that the advertizing columns of
newspapers required extra sheets. Every ingenuity
was resorted to in getting out these limited lia-
bility companies, paying writers, calling meetings,
where everything was stated except the true posi-
tion of affairs ; purchasing some names as decoys,
and publishing others without permission. It is
now no secret that Overend and Gurney's name
was bought up for £500,000 sterling, and all the
money subscribed by the shareholders spent in
such like extravagance was entered in the balance
sheets under the name of preliminary expenses, or
purchase of good will.
Parliament is, therefore, seriously to blame for
having passed a Limited Liability Act without
securing the public against dishonest schemers,
whose plots, they ought to have known, must be
the consequence of such a measure. At the same
time that the Act was passed a board of control
ought to have been named to consider and ex-
amine any new company about to be brought out,
so that no company availing itself of the Act
might be organized unless it obtained the sanction