The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-23 00:00:00

NINTH DAT.

The trial of the information against the directors and
manager of the Royal British Bank for conspiring by
false pretences to defraud the shareholders and Cl 3.
tomers and the public, was this day resumed.
The same counsel appeared as before.
Lord Campbell, on taking his seat oa the bench, an-
nounced that the prosecution would be deprived of the
further assistance of Sir F. Thesiger. Ue candidly con-
fessed that he should have been well pleased to have
had the assistance of that learned gentleman till the con-
clusion of the trial ; but, at the same time, he must
express his satisfaction, which he felt assured was shared
in by the bar and the country, on his elevation. (..kp-
plause.) _ .

Mr. Sergeant Ballantino said the bar concurred in
congratulating the learned gentleman on his elevation,
and the prosecution much regretted his loss in the com-
pletion of the trials.
Mr. Crawford was recalled, and said that during
Cameron's absence from illness durin: January and
May, 1855, Mr. Esdaile took the general management
of the bank. The green ledger, general ledger, share
ledger, and diary and bills book were frequently before
him, and they were also before Mr. L. M. Valiant and
Mr. Stapleton. Witness prepared the periodical balance
sheet in the mode adopted when he joined the bank by his
predecessor, in the course of their preparation he got out
details in a tabular form of the assets and liabilities of
the bank which were extracted from the balance and
ledger-book. He held in his hand three proof impres-
sions of the balance-sheet for the half-year ending Dec.
1855, but each is different. The first is a printed form
filled in by witness in red ink of the balances in the
books, and delivered to Mr. Cameron, the general
manager ; after that, by Mr. Cameron's direction, he
prepared a second balance-sheet, which was a printed
balance-sheet, in Feb., 1355 ; in the first, the paid-up
capital was called 127,0001., and the new shares were
put in the inner column along with the deposits ; in the
second form the paid-up capital was raised to 150,0001.,
by applying that portion of the deposits for new shares
that had been paid in full. When Mr. Cameron gave this
direction to make the alterations, witness thought he
said the balance-sheet had been under the consideration
of the board. The third balance-sheet contained the
alterations in the second and some other trifling ones,
and was the last he prepared previous to the final
balance-sheet which was read to the shareholders at the
meeting. The tabular statement on which the final
balance-sheet was based was pat in. The witness then
detailed the amount of the suspense account, past-due
bills, &c., &c., inserted as assets, which have already
been given. The balance-sheet was audited in his pre-
sence. He produced before the auditors statements of
the assets and liabilities similar to those he had spoken
to. There was a difference in them to those he
handed Mr. Cameron. The accounts were differently
described. In the statement of assets, as first shown,
the bill account was headed in the precise form in which
they stood in the bank books, but in the copy before the
auditors they were simply entitled bill account, No. 1,
2,3, and so on. The loan account was similarly
named. Convertible securities being called loan account
1.*,T0. 1, and past-due loans, loin account No, 2. Mr.
Cameron, with hie own hand, altered the titles of the
account before they went to the auditors. An alteration
was first made, so early as 1853, in the statements
produced for the auditors, and they continued to be made
down to 1855. Tne auditing usually occupied three or
four hours. In 1853, after the accounts had been
altered, he said to Mr. Cameron, Mr. Page, one of the
auditors, appeared to consider that he was entitled to see
all the bills and securities of the bank. Mr. Cameron
replied it was no portion of the duty of an auditor to go
into those matters, or into the personal accounts. He also
said Mr. Page mistook his duty, and were he to carry
oat his view?, he should sit at the beard-room table, go
into all the transactions of the bank, and there, de die
in diem, revise and comment on all the bank's transac-
tions. Such a duty would entirely take away the
functions of the directors. If the auditors required to
see anything in the books he showed it to them. He
read the accounts off to the auditors. The balance
sheet of 1855 contained in the assets all the proved bad
debts, such as Welsh works, &c. In the ledger
these accounts were ranged under different
beads. The Welsh mines were ruled under
the suspense account and convertible securities,
cash credit account, adjusting interest account, amount-
ing in the gross to 103,003/. 2.3. .5c1., up to December,
1855. Witness then detailed the manner in which the
others were more or less spread over the above accounts.
The Islington Cattle Market debt amounted to 8,6001. ;
Mullens', 10,6461. 16,. 31. ; Brown's, 79,437/. 3s. ld. :
Oliver's, 14,1621. 43. Si. ; Macgregor'e, 7,3691. B*, 31, ;
Blacker's, 4,5181. 2d. ; Gwynne'e, 13,4151. 19,. 11,1. ;
Cochrane's, 9,5331. 3s. 3d. ; Cameron's, 24,599/. ls. 51,
'deducting 6931. Bs. 101., balance of his drawing

account).
By Mr. Sergeant Shee—The balance-t,he-A -,vm drawn
out on the recognised principle of book-keeping. The
accounts showed appear i❑ the balance-sheet as they
were in the books. A debt, unless it was entirely hope-
less, ought not to bo written off, and, of course, it mast
come into the balance-sheet in the character of an assort
until that was done.
By Sir F. Kelly—The reserve fend for meeting bad
debts was ferined on a calculation of 5 per cent. on the
net profits, and that was the meaning of the item 3071.
for that purpose in the balance-sheet of Dec., 1855.
No calculation or examination was then made of the
actual amount of bad and doubtful debts, but there was
in June, 1855. The balance sheets of June and Dec ,
1855, did not include ep•cific items of bad debts. On one
occasion witness hazarded a remark to a director. When
Mr. Cameron came to him and said "I understandyou have
been speaking to Mr. Cochrane. I think it excessive
bad taste on your part, and any recurrence of it wilt
meet with my most severe displeasure."
By Mr. D. Seymour Witness became general
manager after Mr. Cameron left, on 22d July, 1858. A
balance-sheet of June, 1856, handed in, had corrections
on it in Mr. Munro's handwriting. Up to August,
1856, he believed the bank wool I be able to dispose of
their interest in the Welsh Works satisfact, rdy, and be
no substantial sufferer by it. It way Mr. Cameron's
policy to keep up a bad debt fund.
By Mr. Atherton—After June, 1855, no interest was
computed on 42,000/. of bad debts included in the
subsequent balance.sheets or assets. Out of 70,0001.
odd, Mr. Brown's discounts 8,0601. 14j. 11d, was for
current trade bill& During the last few days of the
bank deposits did not come in very fast, and it had sold
out nearly all its stock.
Mr. Williamson stated that he was assistant.acoount
ant of the bank. Mr. Crawford informed him on one
occasion that it was Mr. Cameron's wish Mr. L. M.
Valiant, a director, should not be assisted is his exami-
i nation of the books, and witness gave him as little
assistance as possible in prosecuting his inquiries.
(Laughter.)
4d1.3:.2d September
By Mr. Seymour—He did not know if it was stated
that Mr. Cameron's object was to prevent one director
examining the account of another director.
By Mr. Atherton—The cash book showed o❑ the
cashacco creditaccount
t o aide,
another,
as transferredfollows
w... ,it
hfirno from onefew
days of the stoppage ;—.27th August, 1800, 18,1391.
August, 11
lA.s.rigtits;,; 7258,0t1121/. Os. 1, ; 30th August, 29th
7d• ; let September, i 57.
I,noa9k,4inBas/a. 1g8r0a..28
' in hand, then remained of 13
Mr. Duncan was called,
6'721. 192:4..
balance
of 5eptember662,611.517%,184/d.. 8: .ballladn.L;
and' is.ts:t,d7wdilt.hat
was never pressed for money, an:
stopped there was a balance of 35,000/
the principal office, and a similar amount liuthte
of England. the bank
when the bank
till at
he Bank
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine then read a portion of Mr.
Esdaile's affidavit before the Vice-Chancellor, which
applied to his knowledge of the state and condition of
the bark; from its commencement to the time of its stop-
page. It stated that Mr, Efdaile was not aware the