The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-05-01
oyerend. Quincy and Co


To- -cetu- ueXfau-tIble We are not speaking
of the charge against tine accused directors. or Of
the transfer 81 the Old business. or Of ANYTHING.
IN fact. except the business it-ell. That J. g
subject 81 interest -, keen AMI ~ natural tLat the
curiosity Of the public survive IN undated
intensity from day e. day. Indeed. after all the
disclosure AMI DISPOSITIONS and di-,-t- which
ha We succeeded each other duTiug th. la-t month,
IL j. strange low far We seem vet O. b. ~ fault
about the leading facts Df tire original story.
How came the old house Of Guruey Co break
dDwu2 Up o what time Wa the business really
~ lucrative A. rumIur pictured IT, How were
IT, profits lcmIii-hclg Who was tic Delinquent.
victim. Or whatever De- j. O. hc .aIlci. mainly
instrumental IN turning 40 thi- gain into lu--3
Above all. where iu tse world dIi Ill the money
~ to- VIII got tlc Ei.UuJ.uUu carried oil iu
% deTrsissiJu-t some II trf-y questions can
De answered already, 90 others w- arr promised "a
reply very -huTtly. and between one tale and
another the truth may bc expected Co. come out.
On two Important points thcrc j. ~ longer
room for doubt liner. was a time, beyond AL
question: when the business rcTr'-'ut-l trans
actions o the amount Of E7O.OuJ, 600 q year,
with corresponding prDht-that J. onc fact The
next - that there never wa- q time when the
busiue-- was anything lc--, thought the profit,
unhaPIily. were up longer forthcoming. We
have 10 Ou independent cyilcucr that after the
dificultie- u the old house had been incurred tie
amount If money turned over IN the shop was
Just ~ prJsilglpu- ~ ever. Ia tie four years. tor
instance, ending with I~G4, the amounts were
-ucce--Iyely Ej3 600, 600, EG4 600 900, &C.,
0OJ, 900, and E74. 900. 900. The transfer Of the
business wa made, ~ everybody recpllects, in
July, 1865 and a. the new company stopped in
May, 1866, IL wa- only in existence nine months.
Neyerthcle--, duTIug these nine months the trade
wa- maintained without the least abatement
whatever. lt had averaged $40 1000 900 IN the
two year. preceding, and tor the thrcc-quartcr-
Of year cniin. with April. 1866, IL amounted
IL j. che Ofieial li4uidntpr who gives ths figure
TO EjG.Og ,UDb-in other wOri- O. tie old CO.
900 900 Ter aunum with something e. spare.
Consequently ths business pT the -. Corner House
never Tell on one ipta from first 10 last. AMI vet,
whereas il enriched everybody Connected with IL
ut one time, IL ruined all concerned in il at
another. How are We % understand that?
EtcTything went smoothly, and Lad gone
smoothly Ter hall a century, up e. tie end Oi the
year lSCO. The business we have described was
yielding = net profit Of some 100000 a year
Invisible among the partners. aud. IN fact, it j.
these profits IN the form Of accumulation which
the 4. private estates # the partners, - often
referred To-, may b. taken 20 represent. The
GuTuey- estimated their own private property ut
about 1000 ,OOb-thlt j. To- say. the profits ui
ten years together. IL was in lSGO, or there
ahOuts- that the complexion Of Affair." showed a
terrible change. The principal managers Of the
old establishment had been Mr.. Samuel Quincy
and Mr. David Barclay Chapman hut Mr.. Samuel
Gurucy died IN 1856, and Mr.. David Barclay
Chapman retired in 1857. The mischief began
not later than 1858, and mus have been fatally
pronounced by the close of 1860, Lecau-c from
that time forward the Partners, alarmed ut the
state 81 Affair, ceased ~ Appropriate, and, ~ we
have been told, indeed. T. ascertain. the profits
Ot the cUucru. Nor csn we up t. this hour
make cut distinctly whether upon thc whole
account there were any Invisible profits at all.
y confidential letter from the Old firm To On
intended director 0f the new Company. dated
just before the transfer. tcll- ~ much IF tire story.
but not at all During the yclr- lSOl. l~G2.
lNOS, AMI lS5+-a period, De il remembered, IN
which affairs were az their wOr-t-the .. gross
earnings" Of the firm upon E7O, 600 900 Icr
annum were computed 20 average E22T 600.
But against this there were q. loses e. Lc sct
of ~ follows -. From failures in lSGI, Elj.-
eco; ditto IN lSG3, -, lgS: ditto ia 1868, g.
6S7 ditto IN 1864, ElO2.jS3." This would
give AN average loss II some $1,000 a year To-
be balanced against n profit Of E227 900, leaving
IN the pleasant shape Of actual surplus some
l9O,OOO-cNaetly the calculated income Of the
house IN it, best DAYS. But the letter proceeds %
confess that, besides and beyond thisaccUuut Ofthc
- legitimate y and - regular business Of the
firm, there was business Of another sort To Dc
taken into consideration. This. in the words Of the
thcmselycs, is defined ~ meaning IVA
riOus transactions by way Of investment. loan, or
discount which were entirely cStraucUus "a the
concern Of our business" We need
not be ut the pains Of directing tire rcadcr's attcn-
ton % this description. IL contains the story Of
all those . excepted accounts which figured -
prominently IN the late inquiry. and il reveals
the source Of the ruin which ultimately cnsucI.
The transactions in question were further de-
scribed as connected with various advances
made 10 Companies and firms engaged in the
shipbuilding, and timber Trades and
comprising a-O q loans made TO railway contract
v . ~ well a advances to a late West Indian
These statements, n we have observed,
us n good deal, but not quite enough. They
W an insight into the nature VI the 4. extra
leOus " business. but not into it, results. All
Ns - - that gh.r-. 81. L.-sss.--.- - r .
he house -till yielded it, $50. 900 a year profit,
he illcgItImatc trade showed u balance UT another
lind-prObably quite sufficient 10 destroy the
irst. We will now merely avail ourselves of the
igures thus supplied % explain some Of the more
OBSCURE points Ot the story. The oft-dcbatcd
~ 20 the profits or no profits of the old
irm may be easily resolved into n conclusion with
vO sides. Setting apart the extrancOus busi-
ICES, Overcnd, Gurncy and CO. were doing ~
pod n trade n ever. with gain rs large. They
iad not lost their custom, nor the profits which
t gave them but, then, they had now got
mother trade IN hand, and all the profits of the
were wanted 10 cover the Losses IN the second.
" we infer. too, the profits made were actually
% this purIJsc-at least, we should
Understand from these computations that the
10000 OF ElJO,OOO which would have been
Invisible IN ordinary times among the partners
after 1850, not 80 divided, bat was left To
ccumulatc. and - formed the item described rs
standing 10 the credit Of the PARTNERS in the
ledger"
We have thus gradually arrived ut the conclu-
ION that the regular business OF the old house
ever fell of either in extent or prOftablcncss,
that it was destroyed and pulled down
n going concern all the timely a
speculative, e exceptional, " AMI cxtrancOus
radc, instituted somewhere about the wear 1858.
me actual transactions in this branch of the
u-iness may De pretty well understood from the
II Of bad debts and losses which we gave on
last, and now We think the public will
now what u look for and what further rcvela-
ION to expect. How could this new business
ave been invented, and with what mOtiye-?
rue, the period ofits establishment jumps exactly
nth the introduction Of the new Finance COmpI-
and the Gurneys may possibly have felt the
resurc Of competition. and been tempted into q ,
ew style Of trade. But their house was - well
nOwn, 80 powerful. and 80 well accustomed that
noe LnL ---r-. -n L.-r .m LLla 49,. nd Ln-.L--