The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-11 00:00:00

LONDON JOINT-STOCK BANKING
COMPANY.

The half-yearly meeting of this Company took
place -in the" Board-room Of the bank, in Prince's-
street, yesterday. The chair was taken at twelve
o'clock by W. Taylor, Esq.
The CHAIRMAN having briefly opened the meeting,
The SECRETARY first read the notice which had
been sent to the Shareholders, and afterwards
the Roport of the Directors. In the latter it
was stated, that although the value of money
during the last half year had been lower than ordi-
dary, there was satisfactory evidence of the sound and
prosperous condition of this bank. After making
• all deductions, there remained a net sum of
16,4701.165. Bd., arising out of the profits of the half
year, ending the 31st of Dec., 1843, to be applied as
a dividend, which was at the rate of 6 per cent. per
annum. The dividend would be paid on and after
the 17th instant. He then read the statement of ac-
count, by which it appeared that the current ex-
penses, comprising building expenses, income-tax,
&c. were 10,0801. 9s. ; the amount carried to profit
and loss, new account for rebate of interest on bills
discounted and not yet due, 4,805/. 12s. 6d.; dividend
account towards payment of half a year's dividend, at
6 per cent., 16,470/. 16s. Bd., making a balance of
31,3561. 18s. 2d.
It having been moved that the Report be received
and printed, for the use of the Shareholders,
Mr. Alderman HuGaEs rose to address the meet-
ing. He complained of the sum usually paid to the
customers of the Bank on their current account, as
being much too large, and diminishing to a consider-
able extent the profits of the Shareholders. He
thought that this was a fundamental error in
their system ; and that but for this impedi-
ment they might be receiving eight or nine per
cent. The amount was paid to about 2,500
depositors, and although the sum which each received
must be exceedingly small, yet this aggregate told
most injuriously on the interests of the Shareholders.
He would be glad if the Directors would inform the
meeting what amount had been paid to the depositors
as interest during the two last half years.
The CHAIRMAN had no objection to answer the
question. During the half year, ending the 30th of
June, 1843, the amount paid to customers was 9,835/.
upon their minimum balances ; dividing that ending
the 31st of December, the amount was 10,7391.
Mr. Alderman HUOLIES thought that this state-
ment showed the desirableness of an alteration. As
regarded the general affairs of the bank be had no
complaint to make. A more satisfactory statement
than that which they had heard, as respected the re-
sources and available means of the bank could
not possibly have been made—(Hear, hear)—
but this did not diminish his objection to the evil of
which he complained. They had already taken one
retrograde step, by deciding that the system should
not be adopted at the West-end branch ; and the
reason which led them to form that resolution, ap-
plied equally in the City. He concluded by proposing
the following resolution :—" That, considering the
very low value of money, at the present time,
it is, in the opinion of this meeting, expedient that
the Directors should take into their consideration the
propriety of reducing the amount of interest on the
current accounts of customers, and that this meeting
be adjourned until Wednesday, the 7th day of
February next, to revise the Report of the Directors
on the subject."
Mr. MOORS seconded the resolution.
The CHAIRMAN said the subject had been for a long
time under the consideration of the Directors ; it
would shortly be discussed with a view to coming to
some final decision ; and he hoped the Shareholders
would continue that confidence which they had
hitherto reposed in the Direction until that period.
Mr. KNIGHT was opposed to making any alteration.
They should let well alone. He did not believe that
there were half a dozen private bankers who had made
as large a profit as had been made by the London
Joint Stock Banking Company during the past year,
and he believed that their prosperity resulted in a great
measure from the system which it was now sought to
alter. He thought it was a question to be left to the dis-
cretion of the Directors, as it was a plan carried out by
them, and forming no part of their deed of settlement.
He thought it also inadvisable, after having obtained
customers by giving this interest, to withdraw it. He
did not think the Shareholders were qualified to de-
cide whether the time had arrived for a change to be
made ; but if it had, it ought to be left en-
tirely to the discretion of the Directors. Still he
believed it unwise that more than 20,0001. should be
given to their customers, who incurred no risk, and
only 86,000/. to the Shareholders. He should support
the resolution.
Mr. HODGSON was glad that the question had been
brought forward, as it would set at rest a good deal
of uncertainty out of doors. It appeared to him un-
wise-to vary from the course with which they had
commenced.
Mr. GREGORY spoke in favour of continuing the
plan under which the Bank had commenced and
flourished. The plan of giving interest had another ad-
vantage, it made the balances certain ; the bank was
a bank of deposit. He thought a change in the plan
would be impolitic and unjust. He hoped there
would be a great majority in favour of letting the
subject alone.
Mr. Josieu WlLsorr thought if the Directors would
give them their opinion on the question at the next
general half-yearly meeting, it would be early
enough. He urged the meeting to leave the matter
entirely in the hands of the Directors ; though the
amount might be excessive, yet they were bound by
a kind of understanding with their customers. All
that they wished would have been accomplished by
this conversation, without passing the resolution in
the affirmative. re hoped the motion would be with-
drawn, rather than extinguished.
Mr. ILkauisoN fully agreed with the argument that
they were under a pledge to their customers, and it
must be recollected that it was from their customers
that they obtained their dividend, not from the profit
on their capital of 600,0001. If the resolution should
be put, he should move, as an amendment, that it was
inexpedient to make such a recommendation to the
Directors.
A SHAREHOLDER said if Mr. Harrison would pro-
pose that as an amendment he would second it.—
(Loud cries of " Withdraw, withdraw.")
Mr. CORNET said the discussion of the question at
all was injurious. It was analogous to changing the
amount of import duties by Government; no man,
under such an uncertainty, would engage in a specu-
lation. He hoped Mr. Hughes would withdraw his
resolution.
Mr. PEGLER said there were no men so deeply in-
terested in the question as the Directors themselves ;
this was another reason for leaving the matter in thtaix
hands. The allowing two per cent. on the minimum
balances tended greatly to preserve the respectability
of the accounts with the bank.

Mr. MORE hoped the worthy Alderman would not
withdraw his motion ; he wished to have an expre s--
sion of opinion. It was no part of the fundamental
principle of the bank, to pay interest on the current
accounts. They were paying too high a sum for
procuring business.
Mr. Alderman HUGHES replied—lf his motion h ad
produced nothing else, it had elicited the information
that they paid more than 20,0001. a year to cu s-
tomers, and that was a point of great important e.
Very few supposed that the amount was so great. Fie
had unlimited confidence in the Directors; and lie
Loped that confidence would be exhibited at the enid
of the year by the Shareholders. But if they were
found ,in all times, and in every state of the money
market, to pay two per cent. to all their customers,
the sooner they put an end to the system the better.
Wishing to preserve unanimity at all their meeting s,
he should withdraw his motion.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. MORE said he could not withdraw the motio n
without the permission of the seconder, and he shoul d
press it to a division.
Mr. CORISET then begged to move the previows
question. This was seconded, but after some further-
conversation,
Mr. Hughes' motion was withdrawn,.
and the subject dropped.
The following gentlemen were then duly elected tom.
act as Directors, there being no other candidates
Sir Geo. Carroll, Alderman, John Peter Darthez, jun.,.
Esq., John Christopher Lochner, Esq., Sir John ,
Id‘Taggart, Bart., M.P., and George Scholefield, Esq.
Votes of thanks were then passed to the Board of
Directors, to Mr. Pollard, the Manager, and to the-
Chairman, and the meeting separated.

STATA or TAMIL—The commercial intelligence-
from India and China, received by the last overland mail,.
being generally considered unfavourable, had a prejudi
cial effect upon the market yesterday, and manufacturers-
of shirtings were willing to accept prices which they gene-
rally refused last week. Printing cloth, though not lower in. price, was less inquired after, and but little business-
was done in it. Stout domestics, however, whieh haven
been for a long time greatly depressed, and of which the,
znanufacture has been somewhat diminished, were in
better demand, at prices somewhat higher than those or
last week. In the yarn market there was not much
business done. The accounts from Germany not being-.
very favourable, and the demand for the east;
having been supplied, there was little inquiry for-
xeeled yarn, except from the Greek merchants, who are
mow considerable purchasers of low numbers of water-
iwist. The Liverpool cotton market having also be—
come a little easier, prices of shipping qualities of yarn
were in many cases from id. toad. lower than last week.
Yer the home trade, there was no material difference in
prices • but the amount of business done was limited.—
Manchester Guardian.

THE NEW AMERICAN SHIP PRINCE ALBERT.—
The splendid new American line-of-packet ship, Prince
Albert, which arrived in the St. Katherine's Dock on
Thursday last, has, since Sunday, been a source of very
great attraction to persons who feel an interest in matters
connected with improvements in ship building. The
Prince Albert is the companion ship to the Victoria that
',vas launched last year, and, although of the same rate of
tonnage (1,000) she is considerably larger ir; every
V ope, and in all her appointments superior.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERVASt:
GLOBE.—The evidence-taken against-thetwo
'individuals who stand charged, with extensWe for-
gery and uttering of forged wills, and fraudulent
transfer of Bank Stock, will afford proof of the
imperfect security afforded to the public by. the
Registration Act, and also by the practice of the
Bail of England officials. With respect to the
latter, the proof required as to the identity of
persons who present themselves at the Bank as
legal representatives of deceased parties, seems
to be very slender, and the facilities thus
afforded to fraud are consequently considerable.
We abstain from those references to the evidence
adduced against Barber and Fletcher,;by which the
inefficiency of the precautions. at present em-
ployed by the Bank of England functionaries is
exemplified, lest we should seem to prejudge the
accused. When the trial which awaits- them
has been had, an opportunity will be afforded
for directing attention to the necessity of a
revision, with a view to improvement in the
transfer•office of the Bank of England. The
evidence of Mr. Jordan, the registrar of births
and deaths for the district of Pimlico, is strikingly
illustrative of defects in the registration law, and
fully confirms the incidental remarks of Mr.
Chadwick, in his Report upon the Practice of In-
terment in Towns, recently published. To that
part of the Report, Mr. Clarkson, in the course
ofhisaddress to the Lord Mayor on introducing a
new case with which he charged the prisoners,
said, " I cannot help calling your Lordship's at-
tention to the present operation of the law in re-
spect to this subject. I hold in my hand a
book to which, no doubt, your Lordship has al-
ready paid partial attention ; I mean the Report
of Mr. Chadwick upon the practice of burying in
towns, in which there is a passage relating to the
registration of deaths, and pointing out the faci-
lity the present system affords for committing
frauds." The Learned Counsel then proceeded to
quote the passage; to which, we think, the atten-
tion of the Legislature should be drawn early in the
next session with a view to the amendment of
the law :—"lt is admitted that some additional
arrangements are yet wanting for the complete
attainment of the proper civic and technical pur-
poses of registration—as depositaries of pre-
appointed evidence of the fact of death to deter-
mine questions of private rights ; as depositaries
of evidence for purposes of medical science and
public health, to show the extent and prevalence
of common causes of disease incident to different
occupations and different localities; and of the
data for tables of insurance, as well as for the re-
covery of sums assured, when the proof of age
is not admitted in the policy. Any one who is
unknown to the local registrar may go and
register, as a fact, his own death, of which a
certified copy of the registry will, according to
the 38th clause of the Act, be evidence in a
Court of Law. Cases of the registration of false
statements have already been detected; some
have been made with a view to successions and to
the obtainment of property. False registrations
have been made amongst the labouring classes
as to the place of death, to gain interments in
distant parishes at cheaper rates. Fictitious
deaths have been registered to defraud burial
societies, and the registrar's certificate of such
deaths have got in use by vagrants as means of
obtaining alms. In Manchester, a woman
having obtained and used one certificate
of a fictitious death, soon after obtained
another similar certificate ; and, in order
to deter parties from visiting the house,
she got the cause of death registered as
malignant fever." (Section 188, p. 100.) With
the closing remarks of Mr. Clarkson we fully
concur. The Learned Gentleman's extensive
knowledge and practice of criminal law—the
most extensive of the entire bar—give a
value to his opinion, which could not be con-
ceded, to the same extent, to any other au-
thority:—" I have not the honour of knowing
Mr. Chadwick," continued the Learned Gentle-
man ; " but it is undoubtedly a subject of great
importance ; and it is to be hoped that those
who have the power and the ability, will take
measures to see whether it is not within the
power of human ingenuity more decisively and
effectually to guard against such fraudulent
transactions."
STANDARD.—An able article in the last
Number of the Quarterly Review, upon the sys-
tem of education pursued at the Universities,
has directed attention very generally, and we
believe very usefully, to that subject. The sub-
ject is indeed a very extensive one, branch-
ing off into all the various departments of 'edu-
cation, religious, moral, literary, and economi-
cal. The last is,'qlowever, that upon which
theßeviewer bestows most consideration, scarcely
touching upon direct religious, moral, or literary
instruction, except as connected with the question
of economy. For this course there is so much
justification, that the direct education in re-
ligion, morals, and literature, given by the
Universities—we mean by direct, the education
provided by the University rules, and imparted
by the public tutors of colleges—is so excellent,
and so faithfully and zealously given, as to admit
of no change or addition that would not dete-
riorate rather than improve; whereas the
indirect alloy to this excellent system is all due
to the influence of money, and comes therefore
properly within the scope of the economical
consideration. This economical consideration
is, however, we think, unduly narrowed by the
Quarterly Reviewer,
fines it, to the mere question of the loss of money
by the parents of the young men who are led
into debt and into habits of expense. The
loss to the families of these young men
is no doubt frequently serious and productive
of much injury, but upon the whole the loss of
money to their families is a far less injury than '
that caused to the young men themselves, by
training them to habits of concealment, debt, arid
expense, or than the injury to the public, by
making debt and expense fashionable. Youth
is the period in which the habits of the man are
formed ; and let a young man once get over the
fear and shame of debt, which are, we believe,
instinctive, and nothing but a vigorous effort of
reason will in after life fit him for the self-denial
which he must often exercise to 'avoid em-
barassment, even when possessed of consider-
able wealth, still more, if his means are
moderate ; and self-denial, it must be rememL
bered, is again made more difficult by the
preceding habit of indulgence, which the
facility of debt and expense encourage. Strictly,
therefore, as a part of education—as an ele.
ment of moral training debt and expense"
ought, if possible, to be excluded from the Uni-
versities. We would not enforce a Spartan
discipline, unsuited to the actual state of so-
ciety, but, surely, between that and 'the
extreme license in this matter, hinted- at
by the Quarterly Review, as prevailing 'in
the. Universities, there is a wide field. In society
generally it is not inquired whether a gentle:.
man or even a nobleman lives within or be=
yond his means (until he happeirs to get into
debt), provided that he lives like a geli-
Oman, that is, without resorting to sordid
practices or mean shifts; and why may not
the equalising principle, which good sense
has established as a rule in society, prevail in.
the Universities where it is so much mord.ne-
cessary ? The reason is, because, 'in the early
period of life good sense, the effect of experience,
has little control. All young men are vain'
whatever direction their vanity may take ; and
the rarest knowledge with youth is the know-
ledge of the value of money. But' vain then
will seek distinction, and as iexpense is one of
the most obvious and simple, though also' the
rudest and most fallacious means of obtaining
distinction, young men, if they have money or
can borrow it, will employ money as the means of
raising themselves above those 'with whom they
are by any circumstances associated. This, too,
has the mischievous effect of foxcing debts on
others, who, with less vanity avid more slender
means, are still not sufficiently :philosophical to'
be contented in the lower station—hence the,
disease of debt and expense becomes, as it were;
infectious, and one or two rich or unscrupulous
young men make a whole College extravagant;
Either this happens, or a marked' barrier must'
separate the rich from the comparatively poor-'
which would destroy the fusion of classes in the
University, justly treated by the Quarterly
viewer as one of the greatest benefi is they confer
upon the country. How are the ei -ils of expense
and debt in the Universities to be r< riiedied ? is a
question no doubt much more easily asked than
answered. You cannot prevent fi iolish parents'
giving, or greedy usurers lending , or dishonest'
tradesmen granting credit ; still, though -an
evil cannot be altogether excliuded it may.'
be mitigated, and in such a case as the present,.
Now, is almost as good as acc .mplete cure.'
Now, it will, we think, be admitt ed that if by.
any arrangement moderation could be made the
rule, expense and debt the rare e 'iception (if
osubcthainisednoast thtehecaspeuabllriecadcayn),
Now, as to expense, there reasonasmu. 2ah oublwydledsirbee.
are all •eady many
checks, as the long code of college rules with re-
ference to hours, company, the ire lulgence in'
expensive amusement, which, rigidly • enforced-
--and if not rigidly enforced such rubes are ivorse
• than useless—would go a great way; and
when these failed we do not see W. by expense
might not be properly treated as a substantive
offence, incurring the penalty of ret novel from
the University. If a man will not cur form to the
habits of a society, after repeated g traouitions,

FRNEMASONE,Y.—The young man, who may not
frequent church or chapel, if he be a brother, must obey
the summons to attend his duties in Lodge, and he will
there hear a sermon from the Chair, which, if he be a
Christian, will most likely lead him to his place of wor-
ship; or, if not, he will equally be taught the duties of
his station in life, the worship of his Creator, and the
mutual aid we owe to one another, as brethren of one
blood and flesh,—" to be pitiful—to be courteous." He
may add to those sacred precepts, the improvement of his
mental faculties in all the liberal arts and sciences, as a
,duty likewise inculcated from the chair—the necessity of
obedience to the laws of the country in which he lives,
and how adverse to the glory of God, the goodwill of
man, and peace on earth, are the actions of faction, fa-
naticism, bigotry, and intolerance. These are the prin-
ciples of Masonry ; these are the conclusions I have de-
duced from it as an intellectual science. Its text-book
is Preston—its history and philosophy the works of
Oliver—its periodical of intelligence and literature the
Freemasons' Quarterly Review. But it has been
. asked, cannot Christianity accomplish all this ? Aye
and more I But while Christians are contending about
the mode and the form best suited to execute the mission
of our elder brother, his followers, as Masons, are trying
to ameliorate the hard lot of human nature, and mitigate,
by ono universal bond of union, the asperities, political
and religious, which at present separate and dissever man
.from man in the social sphere.—Rev. Dr. Slade.—Free-
masons' Quarterly Review for January. '-
Loss OF LIFE. Yesterday the keel Castor, ,of •
Newcastle, while entering this harbour, struck against
another vessel, and instantly sunk. One of Dennett's
rockets was immediately fired, and one of the crew got
hold of the line, with which he was hauled on to the
pier
.end, and was saved. We regret, however, to add,
that another man, who was washed off the wreck by the
violence of the sea, unfortunately perished. The wreck
of the vessel drove up the harbour. The sea was very
heavy, and the wind strong at S.S.E. Two other vessels •
were off, which stood out to sea. The life-boat put off,
brit as the latter did not attempt to enter, she returned
up the Imboux.-s•TYnc Mercury er Tuesday.