Considerations On The Equ...
The Times, 1824-06-11T00:00:00

-T Tbl,s bW autborizes the establishment ofa Co-mpany, whose capital will be two millions sterling, to be employed in loans on personal efflcts at such a rate of interest as that no dividend exceeding sevea. and a balf per cent. shall cver be received. Honoared Lay the patronage of his Royal Elighness the Duke of York. The affairs are by the bill committed to - - , VXCE-PRESIDENTS. CHAMrMAN. Sir William Congreve, Bart4 AI. P. DXIfL:CThk5. TREASURERS. Mtessrs. Frys and Chapman. Alessrs. Spooner, Attwoods, and Co. Each of these officers are holders of 300 shares of 561. each,, and several opulent individuals hold many hundred shares. The pro- prietary also include many gentlemen whose fortune talents, pra- dence, and philanthropy may well claim public confi3ence and great resPect. A desire to diminish crimes, compassion for the poor, indipnation at tbe frauds and oppressions to wlhich the necessitous submit, with an expectation of a fair, though very moderate remuneration for the investment of capitai, and dedication of their tinie, have origi. nated the design. Opinions expressed by British and foreign writers on police, the testimony of well.informed magistrates, and the experience of con- tinental States, had concurred to evince that pawnbrokers encou- raged thell, augmented indigence, and extorted profit that brought wealth to them, and ruin to the poor. Colquhoun, in his publication on " Indigence," announced that there were about240 pawnbrokers in the metropolis, wvho, obtaining an interest of thirty-three and cne-third per cent., on an average, received about one million pounds a year for the use of temporary loans, and he expresses his opinion that " such a state of things me- rits legislative inquiry to discover whether the necessary ac- comnimodation could not be afForded in a cheaper and better wva through tbe medium of public institutions; and whether through such as mediurn, unnecessary and injurious accommodations might notbe withbleld." Since thatpublication, pawnbroker, have become mnore numerous, and evils are increased. There is no magistrate or officer connected with police, who does not know the oppressions practised on the poor, unable to obtain redress against pawnbrokers, wealthy by illegal gains, andi associated and combined: nor is there a Judge in the criminal courts who is uininformed that pawnbrokers are the receivers of stolen goods in at least every third case out of the tbousands of prosecutions yearly occurdr;g,and yearly increasing, for domestic tbefts. And in April last, at the Old Bailey, where jewels, plate, and valuable articles, had been stolen by a servant to lirs. Keighley to a large amount, Mir. Justice Best publicly " de- precated the conduct of pawnbrokers in receiving property of such. great value without any inquiry whatever, and declared that no man's property could be safe while such places existed wnere stolen property could be with such facilityconcealed,and money obtained." The utility of the establishments denominated " Les Mlonts de Pi6te" in Italy, the Mediterrancan States, and in France,where they are especially connected with the Governmcntand with charitablein- stitutione, had also produced a hope that similar establishments in England might dinminish existing evils, and supply relief. In Fraace, BL azot, in 1816, eulogizing the blont de Piete at Paris, nad published, " I1 a fait disparaitre ces hideux prr- teurs ear gage, ces infames bureaux de prets. sur nzan tisse.ent?t --ouffres ouverts et gardes par I'avarice et l'nfideite-oa ve- nasent s'engloutir journellement In. parure da luxe et les vete- mens de rindigence." The ful employment of British capital dur- ing the war had, however, retarded the design: but the recent pub- lication of official documents as to the Parisian establishment, in " Les Recherches Statistiques surlaVillede Paris,pour l'an 1823," and the present abundance of money determined the promoters of the " Equitable Loan Bank" to make a useful and benevolent at tempt without firther delay. From pawiibrokers who dailv violate the law, as to the interest they receive, and the amount of their loans-from jobbers and ware- housemen, whobv various means extert from manufacturers and im- porters enormous'pro!it for short accoinmodation-and from usurers, who profess by discounting billsand commissions,and other artifices, to sneet the temporary exigencies of needy hut honourable men- they expected calumny and execration; but they also expected, as they receive, the encouragement of the good, the liberal-minded, ,nd the wise. These have been some objections,w which they are happy to refute. Some objections were of a general nature, and not particularly ap:Z plicable to their institution; and-as they proceeded from high and revered authorities, they lare been cheerfully removed. Their bill,. therefore, does not contain any incorporation-nor any clauses cx- emptingsthe proprietary from liability to banlkruptcy, or beyond the amounts nwhch they subscribe. But it even contains a clause complv- ing with the recent orders of the House of L ords, and declaring that all shareholders shall be conjointly and severally Hable to -the amount of all tbeir.fortunes for any.debts the Company may incur. Nor vill they object to render this declaration more explicit in any manner that the wisdom of the Legislature can suggest. But it has been objected, ' 1. That the highly respectable persons now Vice.Presidents and Directors mav retire. And it is replied, Thpt no person can occupy those situations who'does not hold 60' shares, being 2,5001. of the joint stock, and being more than is necessary to be a Director of the East India Company or the Bank. 2. That the promoters are prompted only by a sordid desire Andit is replied. That they are restricted to a receipt, of 'sevenf and a half per cent:, tbr which they employ their capital. and devote their attentioa. and their time, and which may afford smlall profit if another var shouId.occur, or the public funds decline. 3. That the.Company might takeany Interest, would not be sub- ject to equal penalties with pawnbrokers, nor would be punishable by equally summary proceedings. And itis 'so re1,lied, that such statementsareintentionally filse: as the Company wiU be subject to prosecutions forusurg if they. cx ceed the moderate -profits stipulated by the act, as the Company are in every nattera-ade liable by the act it double the penalties to which pawubrokers.are liable, and as those.penulties are to be re- covered bv the most summary procceitigs before one justice and by distress ;wbhilst it is notorioasthpat pawisnbokers elude or defeat just convictions by delays and expenses which their poor injured victims cannot overcome, and often retain stolen goods, or deter their owners from attempting their recovery by very litigant proceedings, and.by the dread of enormous costs. - - 4. That they cannot prevent a deposit of-stolen goods. And it is replied, that itis the interest of the Awrnbrokers to re- ceive stolem articles, en which their advances are low, and whichare rarely redeemed ; but that the servants of the Compan-y having no such interet, and being responsible to the Company for anyless, will exercise justvgilance, and ever discountenance'and detect, ra- ther than encourage crirne. 6. Tat. Pawnbrokers will be ruined by their success. And the result is .denied. The capital will by no means meet public wants-4 vast trade will remain for the pawnbrokers- they will not be ruined, but ccrreeted and imnproved , and ihe usual con- sequence of competition will ensue, for the borroiiers will'he more honourably trcated, and existing abuses disalpear. 6. That the.public raybe prejudicedby the speculation, if debts should be incurred and loss arise. - Asnditis aisvwered thatasthe act prohibits tbe Company from-bor- rowing, and as thesoRepurpose of the Company'is to lena out on,se- curity the capital which tle Compaunyadvancc, they can incur no other debts, nor can individual or public prejudice result. And, 7,eand maihly, that the complany is Inconsistent wlth frce-. ddrn of trade, and that individual induste and capital slould no6 be opposed by co6ijbined influenci and wealth. Aind it streplied, L1 That the Bank of E;ngland, the East India Company, theAssurance Societies,tandnmanyextendedpartnerships, even though monopolies(and. this Company seeks nomonopoly))7lve' produced great public good. 2. That according to the soun-dest rules of political economy, the objection is unwise, anid is only a revival ofthe prejudicesagainst Canals, 11dchinery, Steam-engines, and Improvement, swhiach it is needless tozefiste. '3. T'hat the Compauy- viWhesequ lty subject with the humblest pawnbrokerto invetsd, lion anad to aiagistrates.' 4. That the zstablishmen of.the CoMpeny 'will not impede hut promote the frecdom of trade.- The pawnbrokers rbI9eotb,,e,*40t re)e>bAs"r, oiAny othtl 4c a bWtw pir. fectly anoi,alousn ; they are a boay exclusively privilegoe ana pro- tected;. tthey may reaeive 20 per cent.,, and do, obtain much larger amounts,. whule ther p !rs nniay only irecei,e fivie pb nTh re4soeiatedanc 1itiitda,j anay no %iudiiduai ca- andbitofthexisteonpanyce ioFla ttoepaniihabr6ounefaPlt ';1bese6t i airompition- petie rtesivnmoran teo n pea r cent., and-never allowed to divide more than swen and'an heif 'no cclic.wIll le, not the est4blishtuerI4 but tbe subversiob oifa mono6poly,2ad the break. ing down, andtached the erectioin,of an lujrous privilege; ;';ad wili produ, to the 4ooornd the public i avang Of atled haeur hundred toDusaild Mpond alnhappr, whlich: pawnbrokers atwpreseit. 'eilorts and by the 'existence of this amount"Wl bi besaved, in diminby tioof the pro3r ratos-in m avtthir pf iAving bdnris-ln alletia.s tion of irnqddual dtress.-and in anid o the public wealth.b ' Additednally attachud to the desin' in proprtion 'as it'is conoi- dered-the Companyare-notsurpied thatit theold haive maet fwith gene.l SanctiI bhypprovalm; an that whilst thQey HitTits eir labours to the metCopolistb patsrof the empi re spouleaflyire to profit by the tniggetion, and to imitate theirp flan. -Theysknovw tht mis.a repiesentatinn re ill be ad bndart, and that the clamours of -the in. .terested -might cotifound the unthmnkisng' buit th6y -rely an ' the ex.. site-d-the refleCting....te conipaaaionate-..anET the jpafioitic 1for sup. *jrt. Sanctioned by some of theb batnii e knowgin~g that no evil cani possibly result from a Iegfilatvive sancti6n of their act,whist ts ejetio wold erptuae frands, 'cruel extortions, ahd ncorng~men t crie, he oimpany rqspctfullfinvite that conideatinan asisanc whchthe fel Tatthey deserve, and whic wil ~ealv ad aothe to he nmeros ad useful. instita.. tioss which are the greatest glory of their native lafid.' 3unel10, 1824. _ CONSIDERATIOS OV' TH1-E'QUITABLE LOAN BANK BILL.