The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-26 00:00:00

• .28,79e1.,. while in 1838 they were only 22,7971., and that.
increase you must remember has taken place in one of
the worst years for commercial purposes in Ireland. The
dividends for the la -t year were 21,0001., and we added
to
,the reserved fund 7,7981., so that the total
amount of the reserved fund is now 30,081/. Yeti have,
therefore, a progressive increase of profits, and an in-
crease of the dividend. And lam enabled to assure you
that that dividend will not be lessened in future • that I
am enabled to state, positively, to. the Shareholders.—
(Cheers.): I haye endeavoured thus to explain, as far as
andt,estand the point put by the lieu. -Proprietor, and
if he seeks any further information, I shall be happy to
give it.hiin.-7-(Ctieers.)
The Rev. Mr. Manes considered, when the meetingl
took into account that they had had for several years
upwards of 20,0001,. as a rest, which was not lucked
up, and that all their preliminary expenses had Leen
paid, that there was not so much cause for congratulation.
The CHAIRMAN said, it was true, all the preliminary
expenses had been paid off, but another extraordinary
expense, tantamount to them, in the last year, had
fallen to be paid. To this he did not wish to refer,
except to assure the Hun. Proprietor, and to show him,
that there had been one particular payment which,
though it could not occur again, accounted for more
than the -difference created by the cessation of
the annual deduction of anything on account of
the preliminary expenses. They had the satis-
faction of knowing that all the preliminary expenses
had been paid ; they had also the satisfaction of know-
ing that there was no probability of any such extraor-
dinary expense falling on them again.

Mr: JOHNSTONE inquired if the of the Report
had been seconded ?

Mr. J. HILITCHINSON seconded the motion, that the
Report be adopted.

SIR. JOHNSTONE thought they had not the information
they ought to have received at this meeting. This
was the only opportunity the Shareholders had of
looking into the affairs of the Bank, and, from
the meagreness of the Reports annually presented,
they went away with as little information as to the state
of the Bank as if they had no Report at all. It was true
that they had stated the amount of the rest, the rest for
the year, and the amount of the profits. But they had
no statement of their liabilities or of their assets, and
he considered that, as in the case of every other
Bank, they ought to have some detailed report
of the working of the establishment. They ought
to be informed how the liabilities and assets stood com-
pared to each other, that they might see if they were
really in the prosperous state they were said to be. He
thought that every Shareholder of an establishment of
this sort, whose property was involved, and who was re-
sponsible for the debts of the Bank, should have a
full opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
working of the concern. He complained of the
meagreness of the present Report, as well as of that
of last year. They ought to have something more than
a statement of the amount of the profits of the year,
and of the dividend paid. He, therefore, as a large
Shareholder, and having a deep interest in the welfare
of the Bank, which he conceived was one of great im-
portance to Ireland, though lie had a perfect confidence
in its stability, and in the Company itself, still he thought
they ought to have more information. The Shareholders
ought to have an opportunity of inspecting the accounts
of the Bank ; he thought they ought to have auditors
to inspect the accounts. He should, therefore, propose
that auditors be appointed. It appeared to him, that in
the Report submitted they had not the statement they
ought to have, according to the Deed of Settle-
ment itself. He drew the attention of the meeting
to the 105th clause of the Deed of Settlement.
which provided that in the Report laid before the Annual
General Meeting there should be a statement of their
, receipts and disbursements up to the preceding 31st of
December ; they ought to have a statement of the assets,
of the amount of paid-up capital, the amount of bills
in circulation, the balance of profit and loss,
,the amount
of specie in hand, of the expences of the establishment,.
of the amount of the circulation and deposits, and the.
balance of the accounts current. Neither of these were
detailed ; in short it was impossible for any Shareholder
to judge of the working of the establishment. He
should, therefore, propose that the Report / should not
be received, but be referred back to the Directors, in
order that a detailed statement of these particulars
might be given. He then read a resolution proposing
the appointment of auditors.
The Rev. T. MADGE begged to second the proposition,
and in doing so he would make one observation. The
Hon. Chairman had spoken of the effects which had
been produced by the tariff. He apprehended that those
effects could not have been felt last year, as the tariff had
not then been proposed, and it was impossible for the
public to know what measure Sir Robert Peel would
bring forward.

The CHAIRMAN said, it was quite true that the word
tariff itself, was inapplicable to a former period ; but the
Hon. Proprietor would recollect that the anticipation of
those great changes preceded their actual announce-
ment.—(Hear, hear.) He would find that they had be-
gun to operate sooner than he had given them credit
for ; and he would also recollect that he (the
Chairman) spoke not only of the accounts as they
stood, but that he spoke prospectively of the con-
tinuance of the same dividend, which he did say
after mature consideration of the effect of that tariff.
Now, he did not think that the Directors had any reason
to congratulate themselves upon the way in which the
Hon. Proprietor had treated them. The accounts coin-
' plaiued of were the same as had been given last year.
There was no complaint then ; no complaint had been
made until the !present moment ; no suggestions had
been made to the Directors to propose more detailed
accounts. The present motion came upon them
with that species of want of candour, which would
not have existed if the accounts of last year had been
complained of, and the attention of the Directors had
been called to their alleged insufficiency. They had often
referred to the Provinc:al Bank—he would recal to their
recollection, that in that Bank the Report had always
been entirely such as had been given by the Directors •
of this Bank.—(Hear, hear.) The lion. Proprietor was
quite mistaken in supposing that the account furnished'
was the only account offered by the Directors.
If he had asked him for it he would have
given him the very information of the omission of
which he complained. He had taken fir granted that
because it was not in the Report, it was not on the table,
which happened not to be the fact. (The Chairman
then read the balance sheet of the Company and con-
tinued.) As to the motion put by the llon. Proprietor, it
was not for him to remind hitn what would
be the effect of taking any step from which
it might be inferred that the Directors did not
enjoy the confidence of the Shareholders.—(Hear, hear.)
Auditors were only resorted to in a failing concern, and
theirs, thank heaven, was not a failing concern. He
doubted whether he had power to put the question of
the appointment of auditors, without the notice was sanc-
tioned by the deed.
Mr. JOHNSTONE said he was not aware that there was
anything in the deed which required that a notice
should be given.
The CHAIRMAN said it was incumbent on the lion.
Proprietor to show that he had the power.
An HON. PROPRIETOR said that the Hon. Proprietor
(Mr. JohnstOne) was greatly mistaken in supposing that
joint-stock banks in general published complete accounts
of all their proceedings. Neither the 'Provincial Bank.
nor the North of England Bank, were in the habit of so
doing. He would, in short, defy him to state any single
case in which it had been done. He thought the
Hon. Proprietor should have taken pains to ascertain the
real truth, instead of venturing to make the statement
which he had done. He knew that in one case of. a Pro-
vincial Bank the Directors had distinctly stated to the
Proprietors, " It is for your sake, anti not for ours merely,
that we do not give further particulars."—(Hear, )
Mr. HUTCHINSON said that the object of. the Hun.
Proprietor had been fully attained by the accounts
having been read. There was a great want of courtesy
in not having given notice of his intention to move fur
the appointment of auditors. If any notice of his
intention had been given by the Hon. Proprietor, there
would have been many Shareholders present, who, having
had no idea of the lion. Proprietor's intention, had not
come to the present meeting.
The CtrAntmAN asked the lion. Proprietor if he had
found anything in the deed giving them the authority of
appointing auditors.
Mr. JOHNSTONE-There is nothing in the deed on the
subject, but, I believe that, as a Proprietor, I am autho-
rised at an Annual General Meeting to move fur the ap-
pointment of auditors.
An HoN. PROPRIETOR trusted that, as the accounts
had been read, the lion. Gentleman would not press his
motion against, the general sense of the meeting..
The CHAIRMAN said that, as the accounts had been pro-
duced, all had been done that could by the deed be required
to be done. The only question left was, as to the ap-
pointment of auditors, and the gentlemen would see that
they had no authority fur appointing any other officers.
Mr. JOHNSTONE thought, that as the meeting ap-
peared satisfied with the information which had been
given, that information ought on every future oc-
casion to be inserted in the Report itself.
' Unless some observation had been made on the
subject, they would have gone away with the mer,
Report of the Directors. In all future Reports, a state-
ment should be introduced to the effect that the accounts
were laid on the table.

The CHAIRMAN said the fault WAS his. At every one
of their AnnuarMeetings, the accounts had been inva-
riably laid on the table, and, on the present occasion, the
moment the gentleman had alluded to them, he (the Chair
man) had called for them and had got them. In his opening
address he had not stated that the accounts of the Bank
had been laid on the table as usual. It would pr-chaps
have been more correct if he had done so. Did the Hon.
Gentleman wish to press his resolution.
Mr. JOHNSTONE seeing that the sense of the meeting
was clearly against him would withdraw his motion.
The -CHAIRMAN regretted that the Report had not
been read a second time as he had suggested, if that
had been done this discussion might probably have been
saved, for the following passage occurred in the Report.
—(The Right Hon. Gentleman then read the passage
referred to, which it was stet( d that the prosperity the
Bank had attained would be best shown by the accounts
to be submitted to the meeting.)
The question that the Report be received and con-
firmed was then put and carried unanimously.
Mr. JOHNSTONE, before the meeting separated, wished
to direct their attention to the conduct of Mr. Cochrane
one of the Officers of the Bank of Ireland, and concluded
by moving for the appointment of a Committee to in-
vestigate that gentleman's conduct.
After a desultory conversation, the Hon. Proprietor's
motion was negatived, three hands only being held up
in its favour.

The thanks of the Proprietors were unanimously voted
to the Governor and Directors, on the motion of Mr.
Bianconi, seconded by Mr. Wheeler.
The CHAIRMAN, having briefly acknowledged the
compliment on behalf of his brother Dii ectors and
himself,

Mr. WHEELER moved, and Mr. ROBINS seconded, a