New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-04-09
BRITISH TOPICS.


1IlH COMPANY UNDER NEW DiEECroRs-uNN"A-
woErHY suIPs-TlE MATTER AGAIN BROUGHT
nrTORE PARLIAMENT by Mt PIANlsou~
[rnoM TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENTS oF THN rRiDuNE.l
LoNDoN, March 25.-Aftor a hearing of two Gays
Vice. Chancellor Mains has ordered the petiioh 1or
wind;ngup the Emma Mining Company to stand
over til q meeting Of the shareholders shall nave
been held, and the wishes of the mjolty asfer-
tanned This decision not much 80 be wondered
NJ fr the Affairs of tins unhappy concern hlVe got
into 50 mixed a state That 1t is not easy 10 say Wht
oueht 10 be done, or watch OF tho various p9gt's
before the c0nrt are acting for the general interests
of tie houa-ide shar,h licrs. a. the present hear
ing 20 leSs than ia counsel were engaged repre-
senting SIX conflicting sets o. persons Ihefe are
frsi The petitioner Mr. Ashew second. three o! ''c
original directors third. seven Stockholders hoi'-
ing l5) shares fourth the company rs represented
by three out of fouT Of the present directors RUE
Mr. H'cDougall and other shareholders holding "c-
cordiuc 10 the statement of IN If counsel. @,o.0
shares. and SIKH Nj Burnand. the fourth director
with sundry shareholders behind him. To ada 10
the confusion the three present directors. who
first appeared to oppose the petition. have s'ica
withdrawn their opposition, the Vice-Chance!ioF
HAVING intImatod lie thought they had better 90 So
Then 20 make the comedy complete the same 'i''-
Cbanc llor changes his mind on further he&lin5 "a
The cause with the result stated above IL Sho'.'"
be added IN fairness. t,t CHS change appears 90 10
due 10 the support obtained since the irSt heIllS
by one party Of the shareholders VINO theh opVo'ot
the petition. That party. which originally Hcio
hut 90 shares succeeded in The interval in oh
flaming the adherence of holders OF @0,OO molc'
The Vice Chancellor thought this large body ought
70 have an opportunity of acting with more delib-
Grafton. Heis therefore. to order general meet
nj nd &
by the court.
The Vice Chancellor, it viii be noted, does hot
doubt that the concern originated ID fraud. lie
saws expressly that tho shareholders had been
cheated. that the miao is not WORTH working ard
that he is still of opinion that compulsory Wind
ING up would be the hes; thing for the company. IL
ANYTHING can be got out oiithe original Venic-S'
agaiGs. whom a suit now pending IN the Ciiteu
States an official lqui1at0r appointed by the court
here can conduct the suit better than anybody else
But br Gasse. the counsel for thc @lOOV shares III
sists that there is still some hope of getting some
thing ont of the mine. His chontS are sancnme
men, They now want to dismiss the present dlioc-
tors appoint new ones, and go on MT. O!"SSe III
sists that the company has no debts. ana that @lo'
Op0 worth Of silver a mOnth Is now obtained !rVih
the mine-just about enough TO pay lis expenses
These -colored hopes do not seem 10 have mace
mich impression on the mind OF the Nice-ChalcI-
lOr.
The GOOD faith of the holders of $1,000 shares
need not be Questioned But il is pretty clear that
some ore on this side as well in America. has
st1onc interest in preventing an inquiry into the
early history of the company. Probably We should
not he far wrong il we assumed that among this
class Of PERSONS may be found the Original directors
There IL sometimes touching simplicity IN the pro
ceedings of the worthy Vice-Chanceil0r. lie IN
ouireA IN the course of yesterdays hearing whether
the original directors paid any money for their
shares. Mr. KekewIch said he would inquire % ms
clients and presently told the CONT that having con-
suited them, he found that all the original directors
HAD mid money for their shares. and that two Of
them had been nearly ruined. He does not appear
10 have said which two, and it might be trouble
some 10 specify individuals for ION being further
Questioned. presumed he added that he was not
able 10 say whether his clients WHOM he had just
consulted and might consult again did or did not
receive their qualifications from these vendors!
Not less inexplicable than this mystery is the fur
tber fact that these original directors appeared at
the first hearing to give their support 10 the petition
for winding up. This. notwithstanding the fact
that the petition alleged that the company was a
bubble company, and dat it's original directors did
receive their qualifications from the vendcIs-in
other words that tie shares which the original dl-
recto1s lone of whom was the United ates Minis
ter Gen Schenck pretended to pay for were in fact
given them by the yenders In other words, again.
that the original directors, appointed directors to
look after the interests of the shareholders were the
maid servants of tine vendors whose interests pre-
sumaby were not exactly identical with those of
the vcndees-that is, of the shareholders. Upon
this fact being brought TO the attention of the court,
the counsel of the orr yna directors seems TO have
felt himself in false position. 1t occurred to HIM,
perhaps that his clients might be supposed to favor
the winding up scheme, as a means OF covering up
past transactions Whatever the reason may have
been he suddenly changed sides. Withdrew his sup
port from the petition and said he would be salts
fed that n meeting of the shareholders should be
held; falling which he asked the court to dismiss
the petition with costs. The leading opponent of
the petition, il is time to state, is that Mr. McDou-
gail who has SO long pursued the original directors
with efforts at investigation and charges OF corrup-
ton. lie is at war also with the present board of
directors and seeks to get control OF the proceed
ings against the vendors for the recovery of the
purchase money of the mine
The next step must be, apparently, the holding of
the shareholders meeting under the direction of the
Vce-Chanceor The six parties to the Kilkenny
cat conflict in court will renew their fight at the
meeting, and then it will all come before the court
again and then if the company goes on there Will
be another meeting to elect new directors; and
what the end will be no mortal can tell. The only
certain thing, of Ioost concern TO us, is that the
more these muddy waters stirred the more often
does the head Of United States Minister emerge III
more or less dirty and damaged state. The best
We can hope for. IN the circumstances IS that the
report which COMES this week from Washington
should prove true and that he should retire from
the of these operations before the whole truth
Is known.