The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-24 00:00:00

THE LAW OF LIMITED LIABILITY.

An instructive illustration of the working of the
Law of bimited Liabilityhas been furnished in the

case of the Manchester and Foreign Warehouse

Company, which it was resolved on Monday last
should be wound up. After an existence of 18
months a paid-up capital of 40,0001. has been
almost entirely made away with, and there is even
a possibility that an additional 10,0001., for which
the shareholders are responsible (the total sub-
scribed capital being 50,0001.), may, be required
before the liquidation is terminated. The pro-
ceedings by which this rapid result has been
brought about are known only partially, the one
great desire of the victimised parties being, of
course as in the case of the Surrey Gardens and
other similar instances, to keep clear of the further
damage they might sustain by allowing any appeal
to be made to the Bankruptcy Court. But it ap-
pears that while the ruin was making rapid pro-
gress the directors, in orthodox fashion, declared a
dividend of 5 per cent. out of profits. The affair
therefore is, probably, in all its features, exactly
akin to the general run of those joint-stock develop-
ments with which the public have been lately made
familiar. It has, however, the peculiarity of hav-
ing occurred under the Limited Liability Act ;
and as the equally rapid career of the Surrey Gar-
dens Company under the same law has almost
simultaneously Leen exposed, a question will
naturally arise regarding the inferences it suggests
as to the safety or value of this measure. Some of
those who distinguished themselves by opposition
to it will probably exclaim, " How can there be
any question at all in the matter ? Here we see
iniquities as bad as any that ever occ tared under the
old system take place with a degree of speed never
before witnessed, and which shows that the new law
while it has no effect in driving rogues or incapables
out of the field, by giving facilities to new and better
men, operates as an inducement to the publicto enter
with more levity than ever into such undertaking;."
But this would be a very superficial view, and the
fact is that the circumstances of the cases now be-

fore us, instead of affording an argument against
the law of limited liability, are calculated to con-
_ firm all that has been urged respecting its advan-
tages. Both these companies, as well as several
others of a like description which have quietly
- broken up during the last six months, have been
brought to a stand by the simple fact that the law
of limited liability prevented them from getting
credit, and that consequently when all the share-
holders' subscriptions had been absorbed they had
no choice but to suspend. If they had been com-
panies constituted on the old principle there would
4 have been many stages before the avowal of insol-
ti vency. Money would have been borrowed on de-
- t ventures, and credit would have been eagerly given
to the Board by speculators and tradesmen on the
strength of the names of some half-dozen persons
:0. in the list of shareholders, who would have been
_ marked out for ultimate prosecution to their last
shilling and their last acre ; and, instead of a rapid
14 collapse, we should have had several years of flam-
ing reports and high dividends, the final break-up
being deferred to some convenient period of general
pressure, when it could be attributed to the opera-
tion of the Bank Charter Act, or any other cause
except the true one. Other persons as welLas the
shareholders would then have been ruined, and the
termination would have been found only in a gene-
. ral and disastrous compromise. In the present
case the shareholders alone suffer, and these, in-
;
r stead of being altogether consumed, have simply
- burnt their fingers and bought an amount of ex-
)% perience well worth the money. At this period
a any pity for shareholders as a body would be pre-
posterous. If they will quietly permit men who
have declared dividends out of loses, or com-
- mitted such other defaults or deceptions as, have
lately been common, to escape all punishment
or even censure, the conclusion must be that
tee.they rather enjoy their fate. Of course they
do not like to lose their property, but the exer-
cise of an approbative benevolence in letting
ev, off delinquent directors is evidently sufficiently
2 gratifying to be looked upon as a compensation.
614 Shareholders, therefore, may be very well 'left to
_ pass their votes of approval, forward their proxies,
5 and perform all the other ceremonies considered
_ proper in such cases. If the public have anything
- to say on the matter, it must be to complain of the
A demoralising example thus set. It is the contrau-
_
nity at large that are to be considered, and for them
it is plain that the law of limited liability, by
- forcing every unsound concern to close its business
- as soon as it has exhausted the means of its volue-
ts dupes, is operating as favourably as could have
_ been desired.—Times City Article.
ts%

Country Markets.

EDINBURGH HAY AND STRAW MARKET.
SEPT. 22.

Supplies of all kinds these last six days large.
Oat straw, from 9s Od to 14s Od per kemple of 16 stones
tron ' • wheat do., 9s Od to 14s Od ; barley do.. 8901 to 12s
Od. Hay from is ld to is 4d; new do., 10d to 12d.

EDINBITRGH MEAL—SEPT. 22.
There were in the market today 12 sacks oatmeal, each
weighing 2801 b imperial, which sold at 44s Oct and —B.

DALKEITH MEAL MARKET—SEAT. 21.
There were in the market to-day 12 bags of oatmeal, oof
barleymeal, and 0 pot barley. Sales dull.
Oatmeal, per sack of 2801bs First. Second. Third.
imperial
Barleymeal, per ditto -a Od —s Od —3 03
Peasemeal, per ditto
Flour, new, per ditto —a Od I—aOd —s FAd
Pot-barley, new, per ditto —s Od —a Od —0 ' "

714 ' DUBLIN. SEPT. 22.
5% In consequence of the fall in the English markets, our
9<2
market was a very depressed one to-day. Wheat must be
_ quoted is 6d to 2s under the rates of Friday. Inferior
;5% oats were sold at a reduction of 6d; the better qualities
barely supported last day's prices. No change in barley.
Indian corn extremely difficult of sale, without change in
8% price.
White wheat, 32s Od to 33s 6,1 ; red ditto, 30s Od to 31e
r9m 6d; ditto new, 325; barley, malting, 18s 6d to 21s 6d; grind-
ing, —s to —s ; oats, old, 15s Gd to 18s; ditto, new, 100
% Gd to 15s Ed ; oatmeal, 14s 6d to 16s; bore, new, 15s to 16e
3d ; rapeset d, 28s Od to 30s Od per brl ; bake► s flour, 190
Od to 24s Od per cwt; Indian corn, 35s 0,1 to 37d Dd Per
^ 480 lbs.

M.-SEPT. 23.

the close of the market

Wallsend, &c.
s cl,
Framwellgate 1 17 ua
Neagh ,Hall l7 9"
roes lB
Lambton 3B `‘.;
Hunwick l5 v
South Hartlepool l7 9
Kepier Grainge ... 7S .'6
Braddyll l7 ,2
Riddell l6 '
Eden Main l7 6

48 ; sold, 43.