The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-14 00:00:00

MR. BAINES, M.P.

On Wednesday the annual meeting of the mem-
bers of the Leeds Chamber of Commerce was held.
The report having been read,
Mr. BAINES, M.P., addressed the chamber. He
remarked that he always attended those annual
meetings of the chamber with the greatest interest.
Individual members of Parliament, and the Legisla-
ture generally, had their attention kept alive to com-
mercial questions by the action of the various cham-
bers of commerce in the country; and the Associated
Chambers of Commerce exercised, especially by
means of deputations, a great influence on all the
department of the Governments. (Hear, hear.) He
had listened with much interest to the extremely
comprehensive and minute report which had just
been read, and in almost all the points to which it
referred he felt pleasure in being able to concur
1 with those by whom it had been drawn up. Be-
fore referring to the first subject with which the
report dealt—namely, bankruptcy reform —he
would, with their leave, make a few remarks upon
the general state of trade in the country. Not-
, withstanding what was said in the report,
he thought they might congratulate themselves
that trade in Leeds was considerably less depressed
than it was in most of the other great towns of the
. country. As far as he knew, there was much less
distress in Leeds than there was in London, Liver-
pool, Manchester, or Birmingham. And this, he
thought, might be ascribed in part to the varied
industries th tit were carried on in Leeds, and in part
—he might say in a greater degree—to the spirit
of prudence and moderation which distinguishes
its inhabitants. The depression of trade during
I the last twelve months had not, however, been
confined to England; it had been felt all over
' Europe ; and it became rather an interesting
' question to consider the source from which this
depression had sprung. Two years ago they were
all in the highest spirits; the greatest confidence
was felt in all monetary operations,in all commercial
transactions, in the firmness of joint-srock com -
panies. That confidence was now almost entirely
gone ; and a very large sum was locked up in the
Bank of England from distrust in the operations
of trade, and in the various companies in which
money was formerly employed. They had
witnessed the failures of banks, the stop-
page of joint-stock companies, and the disastrous
position to which many railway companies had been
reduced—the effect of that necessarily being to
damage public confidence, and greatly to impair
the means both of the upper and middle classes.
In considering whether this remarkable contrast
did not admit of explanation, he had no hesitation
lin repeating the conviction he had expressed on
former occasions, that it was in a great mea-
sure owing to the excessive speculation, to the
overtrading, to the unreasonable confidence of
past times, that the present state of matters
had been brought about. The confidence, in the
first place, was well founded. Several years of
good trade—the result of a singular combination
of causes—had existed, and had fairly and properly
induced a feeling of confidence throughout the
whole of the mercantile community. Then came
that fever which frequently supervenes upon confi-
dence. What was in the first instance a reasonable
confidence, was carried to an unreasonable extent ;
credit, justly given to begin with, was afterwards
given where it was not deserved ; and undertakings,
calculated originally to benefit both private indivi-
duals and the country, became, as in the case of
many joint-stock companies, wild in the amount 1
of their speculations. From the imprudence
then committed the country was now suffering ;
and he referred to it for the purpose of ex-
pressing a hope that a lesson of moderation for the
future would be learned from it. (Hear, hear.)
It was impossible to ignore the fact that Leeds
took a great part in the general mania—he might
almost call it—for speculation which then existed ;
and that we had much reason to be ashamed of
the dreadful consequences entailed by the failure 1
of one of our banks ; but he had some hope •
that more moderation and prudence was exercised ,
in Leeds than in many other large mercantile and
manufacturing towns, and that as a necessary
result there was a decidedly higher tone
of commercial morality. (Hear, hear, and
great applause.) With regard to bankruptcy
legislation, he thought they did quite right to
endeavour to make the law—at present exces-
sively defective--Ps effective as possible. (Hear.)
He confessed he had better hopes than those
expressed in the report, that a great improve-
ment upon the law of bankruptcy might be made
in the present session. lle urged the matter
frequently upon Sir John Rolt's attention last
year, and, in conjunction with Lis friend Mr.
Beecroft, he should be glad again to promote
the question ; but, after all, most could be done
by deputations from chambers of commerce. The
subject should never be lost sight of for a moment ;
deputation after deputation must be sent to London
until the Government felt that the mercantile com-
munity were quite resolved to have a bankruptcy
law which would protect the interests of creditors.
(Hear, hear.) Allusion was made in the report to
one subject on which he had some doubts—the ad-
visableness of the telegraphic communication of the
country being taken iu hAud by c+QTOEII)32Qut It A'