The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-24 00:00:00

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The committee of con." :titftt apginted at the
January meeting of the Australian Agricultural
Company have Just issued their report. It is well
drawn up, and presents another remarkable illus-
tration of the way in which property at a distance
belonging to shareholders in England is habitually
squandered, the directors at home teing too nume-
rous, and too much occupied with their own pur-
suits to bestow the prompt and vigorous watchful-
ness upon it which a private person would feel to be
essential to safety. In the present case the company
have a paid-up capital of 350,000/., and a free grant
from the Crown of 690,702 acres of valuable land
in a flourishing colony, and yet it was found from
the last report of the directors that, instead of a
profit for the year, there had been an actual loss of
several thousand pounds. The stock of horses, once
famous, "and obtained at a heavy outlay, has been
allowed to become deteriorated and comparatively
worthless. The merino sheep, which represent in
the books 130,000/., aro now estimated at 5,011/.;
of the cattle large numbers have been irretrievably
lost, owing to their not having been mustered since
1848 ; the correspondence has been neglected, 43
despatches from the directors on this side beiug al-
lowed to remain without acknowledgment at one
time • the annual accounts have not been trans-
mitted until after the lapse of nearly a year ;
and speculative shipments from the company's
coal mines, involving a less of 5,400/., have been
made without authority, and in the face of orders to
the contrary. It also appears that the accounts in
the tolony have never been audited, and that large
sums have been wasted in road-making. In this
state of affairs the only satisfaction is that the pro-
perty of thecompany is now under the care of a new
superintendent, Mr. Hodgson, who is to act with a
committee of advice in Sydney, while the directors
have also sent out to the colony, an accountant ap-
pointed by themselves. The committee concur in
the expediency of suppressing the sheep establish-
- intents on the Port Stephens estate, and insist that
this step should be followed by the dismissal of all
unnecessary hands. They also approve the plan
contemplated by the directors .orltitting the New-
castle collieries on lease. All further expenditure
by the company on public works, such as should be
left to the local government, is discountenanced,
and, although with the extension of railway: the
deposits of iron ore on the Port S'ephens estate
may become so -valuable as to render desirable the
expenditure of 33,000/. upon a tramway, the com-
mittee urge that this should in no case be entered
upon unless the mines shall be previously let on lease
at an adequate rental. The committee complain
of the throwingaway of large sums iu applications
for acts of Parliament, -one of which is at present
in progress at an anticipated cost of 1,000/., and
suggest that by corning under ttie Limited Lia-
bility Act the company could obtain a much better
position. A reducion is urged in the office ex-
penses in London, and Mr. Coleman, the ac-
countant, has been employed to • frame a
system for the company's accounts. With strict

THE AUSTRA',

economy and rigid nmnagement for the future,
although only melgre dividends cln be hoped for at

present, the committee, looking at the position of
the vast tract of property pos9essed, are disposed to
believe that the great expectations at oae time
formed of the undertaking may yet ultimately be
realised. Finally, it is necessary to remark that
they a' tribute the disasters lately bust tined 'to the
unfitness of Ctlitain M. F. Brownriv, who was
named superintendent in 1852, and the want of
promptitude in the dir.s.ct-,rs in ordering his suspen-
sion. The appointment seems to have been such as
too commonly characterise our public companies,
shareholders being?: led either by the private bias
of directors, or the sanguine representations of
candidates who will promise anything, to trust
their interests without control in the hands of people
whose past history should have been a warning. The
directors, it is stated, consider th 3 character of
Capt. Brownrigg for honlur and integrity unim-
peached, but "it appears," the committee observe,
among other things, that he had some time pre-
vious to his appointmea failed in business and
compounded with his creditors." They charge the
board, therefore, with a grave error in having made
the nomination, and impress upon the shareholders
that "no individual should hereafter be appointed
to the responsible office of presiding over their af-
fairs who has proved himself ine.;tapetent to manage
his own."