The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-06 00:00:00

MR. LAING.

In reply to a questionin Parliament in reference
o the connexion of Mr. Samuel Laing with the
affairs of the Great Western of Canada Railway,
Sir Charles "Wood intimated that the subject should
be entirely deferred until Mr. Laing had an op-
portunity of explaining or answering the charges
brought against him. It is hardly fair, however,
to Mr. Laing that the case should be left for three
or four months on this footing, as if the allegations
contained in the report of the Investigating—Com-
mittee were of such a character that they must be
looked upon as incapable of collection until Mr..
Laing shill have supplied us from India with
evidence to controvert them.. Full materials for
judgment are.,already before the, public. The
Committee of Investigation called upon Mr. Laing
for explanations before he left this country, in
order that any statements they might feel it neces-
sary to embody in their report should in fairness
be accompanied by whatever antidote it might be
in his power to furnish. Mr. Laing accepted this
offer, and his evidence, voluntarily given, and of
whichl we had the opportunity of correcting the
printed proofs, is published in full in the appendix
to that report. It is to this evidence that the com-
mittee appeal in support of the accuracy of their
charges, and the only question is whether it
really bears them out. If it does not do so,
there can be no occasion to trouble -Mr. Laing,
in the midst of his arduous and complicated
duties in India, to go over the matter again; and
if, on the contrary, it demonstrates the justice of
the attack, nothing that. Mr. Laing may now state
can invalidate the effect of his previous deliberate
admissions. It is the business, therefore, of all
who feel an interest in upholding the character of
our public servants to read the report and evidence
and not allow an impression to circulate for months
that something very bad has been discovered with
regard to Mr. Laing, unless from an examination of
these documents they feel that there is no escape
from such a conclusion. It would be interesting to
know how many there are among the hundreds of
persons who during the last fortnight have been
unhesitatingly accepting and spreading the idea
that, while France and America have been respec-
tively scandalised by M. Mires and Mr. Secretary
Floyd, England could also furnish a disagreeable
case, have really made themselves acquainted with
the precise nature of the imputation on Mr. Laing,
and of the grounds upon which it has been based.
The public will be surprised to learn that in the
whole affair there is not a single point upon which
Mr. Laing has manifested the slightest desire for
concealment, or withheld an explanation, The as-
sertions of the committee apparently are, that Mr.
Laing many years ago, while he was a provisional
director, and inviting the public to subscribe for
shares in connection with this Canadian undertak-
ing, entered into an agreement with Mr. Wythcs,
the contractor, to share the risk and receive a por-
tion of the profits of the contract; that Alr. Laing,
after he had ceased to be a director, accompanied
Mr. Wythes to the board-room, and acted as an
advocate for his claims ; and, finally, that he re-
ceived for his services in getting up the railway a
commission on the amount of capital subscribed.
With regard to the first of these, the answers given
by Mr. Laing are free from reservation. He states
that, although his name was used as a provisional
director or trustee, in the early stages of the affair,
as soon as he came into any sort of position of prac-
tical responsibility to the shareholders, he recog-
nised that he must have nothing to do with the
profits of the contractor, and that he immediately
gave up the agreement. All his colleagues knew
what had passed, and he never derived a farthing
from that source. On the second point, that of
attending the meetings of directors in company with
Mr. Wythes, he represents that it was for the pur-
pose of affording explanations; and on the third
—namely, the receipt of a commission, he admits
that it was at the time part of his business to assist
in getting up public companies for a definite remu-
neration—a fact which has for years been well
known, and which, if it is to be used in a damaging
sense, should have been broughtforward previously
to Mr. Laing's being called to high offices of State,
and not after years of service at the most critical
period of his duties. The most striking points,
however, in favour of Mr. Laing are, that while
he was in the midst of all his arrangements for
India, and within a week or two of his departure,
he gave the committee every facility in their in-
quiries ; that he did not refuse to answer
any question whatever ; that he finally asked
the committee if there was any further circum-
stance on which they wished for more satisfac-
tory light, and that the committee evaded this
appeal, and did not intimate to him their intention
to make any charge or insinuation, when, if they
had done so, and stated its precise grounds, he
might have known where they were dissatisfied,
and have added anything to his evidence to meet
the defect. It is also to be remarked that, although
the inquiry may have been conducted with all
due courtesy, the report reads like that of a cross-
examination in some inferior court. Indeed, this
peculiarity so plainly forced itself on the percep-
tions of Mr. Laing that he felt it necessary to in-
timate that if the committee published any asper-
sions on his character, without also publishing his
explanations, his proper and inevitable alternative
would be to bring the matter before a jury—an
announcement which, although made in a
perfectly temperate manner, was immediately
seized upon by the committee as a most
" improper threat" for which they " did not
care one fig." There is no reason to doubt that the
committee only desired to do their duty, but it is
difficult to read their report without a sense of its
being pervaded by a strong animus. This may have
been caused partly by the extent of the general
mismanagement actually brought under tjacir notice,
and partly by the fact that a 'large number of the
shareholders are known to be of opinion that the
committee, by delegating the principal portion
of their functions to paid accountants, hhaveitmis-
curred an extraordinary outlay
necessary to present a strikingfor equivalent.whi
Whatever may be the inference in in these
bre-
spects, all that is necessary to insisted upon
statementsthe jus-
tice
is, that no persons should
accept
theehim
against Mr, Laing without according
for which, knowing that he
would be absent
from this country, he especially stipulated—namely,
a perusal of his own evidence. They may consider
that his evidence shows
or worse ; but whatever it is worth
may be more ortl let them
yetform
t i laxity, or want of caution,
their own opinion upon T
to come out, but it is to be hoped. that any future
charges that may be made will be of a strictly defi-
nite character. Even in their chief accusation the
committee wander from facts to assumptions.
Finding it necessary to quote Mr. Laiug's explana-
tion, they seek to deprive it of value by the suggs-
tion that he " may have had other objects in vievc
and in another paragraph, while eh erring that
" Mr. Laing alleges that it was all open and above-
board and known to all his colleagues in the man-
agement of both companies," they add that they
"do not find such to have been the fact." The mere
assumption that Mr. Laing had other objects in
view inconsistent, withlight, intentions is unworthy
of introduotien into a fern-1.31 business report, end
the statement, in Mr. Laing's absence, thet the coin-
mitke do not find his allegation respecting his
colleagues to have been true, should not have been
made without the proofs of its falsehood being
quoted.—Times' City Article.

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