New-York tribune., 1878-11-07
BRITISH FAILURES.

HOW THE PROSECUTION OF THE CITY OF GLAsuo"
| RASk OFFICIALS Is BEING CoNDUCTED-THE
CAUSES or DILL TRADE-A SENSE OF lNoh-
| CURIrY IN LoNDON-BANK SHARES FALLING
| lFRoA THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THE TRibuHhI
LONDON Oct 24.-The Scotch papers come 10 uS
day by day filed with reports oil all Sorts relating
| IN the Citv of Glasgow Bank failure. As q rule'
the details are unImpOrtant except TO the 'lclinS'
1t Is understood that the report OF the accountants
which vou had last week gave the substance OF tile
whole story, and there il little expectation 'hat
further investigation will add much to the losses OF
| IN the assets The shareholders have since held
| meetiug and done the only thing they couiu
| do. They voted to wind up the bank ana
| appointed four liqudatOrs. They know that they
| owe 500 600, ,O0O that they have but S3O,Ooo.ooo
10 pay WITH and that the balance must come out oi
| their own pockets' There was no hint of dispo-
sition 70 shrk this enormous obligation, th0ngh IL
| means RUN to most of them if not to all. Nor ulu
| they waste time in expressing Indignation against
| the directors who had brought them into trouble
Tne Government has acted so promptly that pHNato
| Sufferers could propose nothing new. have heard
IL suppested that the swiftness with which
criminal proceedings against the directors were coi-
menced ~ due TO the existence OF public prosecutor
| in Scotland But that is not quite so. 1t was the
Treasury which set the law in motion. Orders went
| down from Iondon-to the ProcuTatOr Fiscal at
| GIaspOw III the scene of the fraud had been IN
! England, similar instructions would have been
gwen to prosecute. The only difference IS that IN
England the business would have been put into the
hands Of some private law firm, or OF some one OF
the counsel usually employed by the Treasury. The
| advantage of having o public prosecutor would
appear most strongly IN precisely those cases IN
which the Treasury did not think itself called upon
| to act.
| All tho directors are men over fifty years OF age:
| all but two arc over sixty; two OF them arc over
| seventy. Ii is believed in Glasgow that not more
| than two, or at most three ont of tho six, have
| taken any active part in the frauds or had any
| knowledge of them. The rest were dummy" Ill
| rectors. Thoy were men OF position ana fortune;
contcnt to take only nominal share IN the man
agement of the bank and like the rest of the share
holders believing what was told them by Stronach,
the managing director, and his COntederates. Tho
charges against all of them are nevertheless the
same; that they have been guilty actors, or
art and part. of the crime OF falschood'
fraud and wilful imposition, committed at
Glasgow in the County of Lanark" The secretary
Of the bank, Leresche. stands committed for the
same offence aud all of them have undergone pre-
lminary examinations.
In England the examinations would have been
public. In Scotland, where in legal as IN all
other matters you are constantly running
against traces of its long and close
connection with France. they are private.
The original charge may thus be altered or added TO
in consequence Of disclosures obtained from the prs-
ouers after thcir arrest. They in fact arrested
on warrants stating the general charge of frand
above gwen. by the time they were brought before
the Stipendiary Magistrate, this had been expanded
into tho following:
Fraud: Having on various occasions between Tho
yoars lo72 and 1873 by falsely aud iraudenty hl.ly-
ing the books OF the Ciiy ~ LlaSSo" BAnhus Nohl
pany, Virginia st., and representing large sums OF
money assets OF the said bank whlch werr nos tuE
due. but which were ta.se ana h'ons; ahu ~ ias,S
and iraudeutly undertaking the liabilities Oi me DAh
and BY pIep9rnS sS ard P"%hGs SSg hef Ihs same the
Shareholders thereby cGnceanT rom M ,ne d Az y tH r
Glasgow Banking Company.
This again Is further extended in order
70 supply q sufficient basis for interroga-
tories 10 be administered TO the prisoners,
and il IL not till they have been fully com
mittcd for trial that the charges against
them will take their final shape in the Indictment.
That document will set forth the whole OF the acts
in dctl by which the accused are believed TO have
wrought the ruin of the bank. Ii seems 10 be c>-
pccted that the two active directors who were most
directly responsible for the offences committed VIII
get their full sentences of penal scrvtude; no less
than fourteen years each. The dummies may be
let OF Win u year OF lHpol hdIh iao"i' ~ -
hintcd, moreover that some Of the prIn-
cip,l clerks of the bank must be in
cmded in the criminal proceedings. The state
Of the lcdgcr- il such that il is difficult 70 see how
the false entries could have been made innOeeutly
even by the actual transcrber of them. Above the
false entries appear IN cases, the tTnc entries
in small figures tho large figures being those sub
sequcuty transferred 10 the balaucc-sheet for the
ediGcation of tho shareholders the small repre-
scntug the real facts. But none OF these clerks has
yet been arrested Il is remarked further, that the
authorities have allowed Mr.. J. Nicol Fleming 90
get away to Spain. This man had been director
till within two or three years. and is member Of
the firm which owes the bank some $JOOO,0OO
mostly unsecured. There can be no doubt that the
frauds had begun while Fleming was still an active
director, and that ho was cognizant OF them.
In London the effect Of the failure has by no
means passed away. The collapse of the large firms
whether in Glasgow Manchester, London or else
where. which were so dependent on the bank as to
be oycrthIown by it's fall, has had little effect
indeed for the return Of their bills was merely a
question of time But the feeling of insecurity to
which the GLASGOW disclosures have given rise IL too
deep aud too widespread to pass away suddenly
The condition Of the country Is not yet such as TO
hasten the return of confidence. One fact there In
on the right side it il urged the absence Of inha
tom but the distress which prevails IN so many
branches Of trade and manufacture must be set of
against it.. Nor do the most competent judges ex-
pect anything like quick return of prosperity
Speaking this week ut Bradford, Mr.. w. +.
ForstsC himself a large manufacturer, cap
itul business man, as well as states
man Of known sagacity said he agreed with
Mr.. John Morley as to the cause Of the depression
under which the country had been SO long suffering
1t was over-production WhcniMr. John Morley SAID
so. he was said to be theorlst. Mr. Forster
nat h Iis,pissad In that Yay He too ia convinced